Learning climate, basic need satisfaction, perceived choice, study engagement, and students’ performance

The paper examines the role of learning climate (autonomy supportive vs. controlling), intrinsic motivation resulting from the three basic needs satisfaction (as posited by Self Determination Theory of motivation), self-perception of choice and self-awareness on students’ study engagement and academic performance (measured in terms of CGPA). The study intended to test the validity of Self Determination Theory (SDT) in the Asian and Islamic cultural and institutional context. The data were collected from 529 undergraduates Muslim students (Females = 57.7% and 81.7% Malaysians) representing several study disciplines. Standardized instruments were employed to measure the constructs of learning climate, basic needs, perceived self-determination, and study engagement. Results provided strong support to the SDT proposition suggesting that an autonomy supportive learning climate significantly contributed to intrinsic need satisfaction of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. It was also found that the autonomy supportive learning climate and satisfaction of competency need contributed to study engagement. However, other than the relatedness need satisfaction which contributed negatively to students’ academic performance, no other factor was associated with students’ CGPA. Obviously performance is the result of a number of other factors such as ability, besides motivation. The study provides good empirical support to the SDT propositions from a non-Western cultural context

Transformational leadership and work outcomes: organizational justice as mediator

The study explored the relationship of transformational leadership with organizational justice and work outcomes. Specifically the study examined the potential role of procedural justice as mediator of transformational leadership and work outcomes, namely, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intention. Sample consisted of 370 employees from 60 institutions of Islamic microfinance in Indonesia. The empirical tests indicated that transformational leadership contributed significantly to procedural justice perceptions as well as to the three work outcomes. Also, procedural justice had significant effect on all the three work outcomes. The test of mediation effect of procedural justice on transformational leadership and work outcome relationship indicated no significant mediating effect on job satisfaction and turnover intention, though it was partially significant with organizational commitmen

The effect of Islamic work ethic on organizational justice

The study proposed to investigate the effect of Islamic work ethic on justice perception among employees in Islamic microfinance institutions in Indonesia. The construct of organizational justice included three dimensions, namely, distributive, procedural, and interactional justice. The samples were drawn from 370 employees from 60 Islamic microfinance institutions in Central Java, Indonesia. The results suggested that Islamic work ethic positively contributed to the three dimensions of justice perception. Implication, limitation and suggestion for future research are discussed

Succeed or succumb?

The case study primarily deals with the analysis of two different, rather opposing styles of leadership and their resultant effects on the personality, attitude and performance of the subordinate employees. This case details the characteristics of a bossy, authoritative, prejudiced, close-minded, and destructive critical leader whose approach to dealing with subordinate staff lowers an employee’s morale, leads to lower productivity and even forces one to quit the job; whereas on the other hand, it shows a participative, open-minded, supportive, amicable, and friendly leader who is able to boost employee morale and enhance motivation to work harder, while being committed to the organisation. This case study also provides an illustration of the fact that sometimes, in order to succeed and get promoted in an organisation, we may have to put aside our personal relationships in the workplace, or even walk over them to climb the ladder of success

At the crossroads of career and camaraderie

This case study presents a sunny scenario of a ard-working, talented and competitive employee who is seen to be recognised and rewarded for her efforts by her superiors. This case analysis elucidates the fact that for achieving success,recognition and excellence in an organisation, two factors are of substantial importance. One would be personal attributes of an employee such as hard-work, competitiveness, talent and skills and second the presence of an inspirational,motivating, helpful, friendly, trusting, supportive, and an unbiased leader. The case study clearly depicts that when these two factors combine, they bring about highly positive developments for the employee as well as for the entire organisation. However, difficult choices are to be made by a manager and the employee herself when opportunities for recognition and promotion knock on the door

Conformal mapping of unbounded multiply connected regions onto canonical slit regions

We present a boundary integral equation method for conformal mapping of unbounded multiply connected regions onto five types of canonical slit regions. For each canonical region, three linear boundary integral equations are constructed from a boundary relationship satisfied by an analytic function on an unboundedmultiply connected region. The integral equations are uniquely solvable. The kernels involved in these integral equations are the modified Neumann kernels and the adjoint generalized Neumann kernels

Paraffin Wax: The Effect of Particles on Crystallisation Kinetics

This project is mainly about to study the effects of different particles properties on the crystallisation kinetics of paraffin wax. In the oil and gas industry, the crude oil that have a high amount of wax is considered a hassle as it is easily deposited in the pipeline and increase the pump load which resulting in increasing of energy consumption. Sometimes, there is some salt particles extracted along with the crude oil during production as well as sand particles. Thus, it is important to observe and study how these particles with different properties can affect the growth and dimensions of the wax deposits. The properties of the particles such as different mass, different salt type and grain size will be the manipulated variables for this project. These data results is then inputted into the Avrami equation to observe the growth rate and crystal dimensions

Motivation and study engagement: a study of Muslim undergraduates in Malaysia

There has always been a serious concern about students’ academic performance in schools and institutions of higher learning. Mostly, it has been seen in terms of lack of motivation. However, little attention has been given to the reasons for poor motivation. The SelfDetermination Theory (SDT) of motivation provides a new perspective on motivation. This paper investigates students’ motivation and study engagement using the SDT framework. It examines the role of learning climate, intrinsic motivation resulting from basic needs satisfaction, self-perception of choice and self-awareness of students’ study engagement. This study attempts to validate SDT propositions on students’ motivation and study engagement in the Asian context and within an Islamic institution of higher education. Data were collected from 432 undergraduate students (Females = 62.2%) representing several study disciplines. Standardised instruments were employed to measure the constructs of learning climate, basic needs, perceived self-determination and study engagement. Results provided strong support for the SDT propositions suggesting that an autonomy supportive learning climate significantly contributed to intrinsic need satisfaction of autonomy, competence and relatedness. It was also found that the autonomy supportive learning climate and satisfaction of competency need contributed to greater study engagement. This study provides good empirical support to the SDT propositions from a non-Western cultural context

Airways and cardiovascular inhibitory effects of Olea europea and Terminalia bellerica aqueous fractions

This study describes the bronchodilatory, vaso-relaxant and cardiac inhibitory effects of aqueous fractions of Olea europea (Oe.Aq) and Terminalia bellerica (Tb.Aq) fruits. In guinea-pig tracheal preparations, Oe.Aq and Tb.Aq caused concentrationdependent (0.03-5 mg/mL) relaxation of carbachol (CCh, 1 μM) and high potassium (80 mM)-induced contractions. When tested on rabbit aortic rings, against phenylephrine (PE, 1 μM) and potassium (K+)-induced contractions, Oe.Aq and Tb.Aq caused non-specific inhibition of the induced contractions. In isolated guinea-pig atria, Oe.Aq and Tb.Aq exhibited a suppressive effect on the atrial force and the rate of contractions. These data indicate that Olea europea and Terminalia bellerica aqueous fractions possess airways and cardiovascular inhibitory activities, via calcium antagonism like verapamil

Pharmacodynamic evaluation of Terminalia bellerica for its antihypertensive effect.

Terminalia bellerica has been used as a folk medicine in a variety of ailments including hypertension. Our aim was to investigate the possible mechanism of its blood pressure (BP)-lowering effect. The crude extract of Terminalia bellerica fruit (Tb.Cr) which tested positive for flavonoids, sterols and tannins induced a dose-dependent (10-100 mg/kg) fall in the arterial BP of rats under anaesthesia. In isolated guinea-pig atria, Tb.Cr inhibited the force and rate of atrial contractions. In rabbit thoracic aorta, Tb.Cr relaxed the phenylephrine (PE, 1 μM) and K+ (80 mM)-induced contractions as well as suppressed the PE (1 μM) control peaks in the Ca++-free medium, similar to that caused by verapamil. The vasodilator effect of Tb.Cr was endothelium-independent as it was not opposed by Nω-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester in endothelium-intact rat aortic preparations and it occurred at the similar concentration in the endothelium-denuded tissues. These results indicate that Terminalia bellerica lowers BP through Ca++ antagonist mechanism and thus provides a sound mechanistic background for its medicinal use in hypertensio