The Use Of The Internet Is ESL/Writing Classroom : A Case Study

The purpose of this case study is to explore the possibilities of using the lnternet in ESL writing classroom, particularly among UiTM Arau students. This qualitative study explores the benefits and limitations of teaching university-level English as a Second Language (ESL) online, via the Internet. Although some students may improve their writing, writing improvement is not the focus of the study. Both the technical and pedagogical aspects of facilitating a virtual ESL writing classroom are examined. The findings of this study were (gathered using the triangulation method of observing the students using the lnternet to learn writing as well as interviewing both the students and lecturers. Ten English lecturers at UiTM Arau were interviewed. Besides the lecturers, eight students were randomly chosen. From the observations, the interviews of both the lecturers and the students, it was found that generally the subjects agreed that the lnternet could be used in ESL writing classroom. However, most of them cited the problems of infrastructure, materials on the lnternet as well as the syllabus. This case study allows the university to prepare itself before embarking into the use of the lnternet in ESL writing classroom. This study also allows the lecturers to be aware of the limitations of using the lnternet in ESL writing classroom

The impact of Korea's exchange rate volatility on Malaysia's trade and foreign direct investment / Mohd Asri Syahrol

This paper empirically describes Korea's exchange rate volatility and its impact on Malaysia's trade and foreign direct investment. The paper will concentrate on the trade and investment of Malaysia in relation with Korea's exchange rate for the period of 11 years from the year 1997 to 2007. In the study, Granger Causality model are used to explain the relationship and the impact between independent and dependent variables. Granger causality is a technique for determining whether one time series is useful in forecasting another. The paper show that only certain period that volatility in Korean exchange rate Granger cause the dependent variable of trade and also the foreign direct investment exchanges between the two countries. In addition, the paper provides evidence that exchange rate volatility does not have robust and significant impact to trade and foreign direct investment inflows. It will show that greater volatility of exchange rate does not lead to a decreased trade and foreign direct investment. Exchange rate of Korea is used as the independent variable while Malaysia's trade and foreign direct investment acts as the dependent variable

THE EFFECT OF TYPES OF VEGETATION ON SLOPE ALONG THE NORTH-SOUTH EXPRESSWAY

North-South Expressway is an infrastructure network constructed to link North area and South area in Peninsular Malaysia. The expressway involves of many cut-off slopes during its construction. The disturbance slope will change its stability that lead to slope failure such as erosion and landslide. The main objective of this study is to investigate, determine and analyze the effect of types of vegetation on slopes along the North-South Expressway. Eight selected slopes are chosen as study site. The study involves some methodologies. Research, data collection of slope data, rainfall data and vegetation data, data analysis using USLE method, distribution particle size test to determine soil types become very helpful methods in verifying results to meet the goals of project. The result from the USLE calculation shows tree or woody vegetation provides greater mechanical reinforcement and buttressing action because it has stronger and deeper rooted, so it is best for slope protecting, compared to fern and bushes that protect only surficial slope. Slopes with tree give the lowest value of soil loss in the range of 95.54 to 162.23 tons for all years, followed by slopes with bushes by 17134.92 to 60153.61 tons. Slopes with fern give the highest amount of soil loss with 24552.69 to 95059.04 tons. Hence, bushes give better protection towards soil erosion compared to fern. Thus, tree is the type of vegetation that works best in protecting soil erosion, followed by bushes and fern. Error in this estimation can occur because the USLE is an empirical equation that does not mathematically represent the physical processes of soil erosion. However, the relative results from different years may still be useful to predict the trend of soil erosion

Pengaruh Golongan Elit Pemerintah Dalam Pemaparan Berita-Berita Etnik. Analisis Kandungan Terhadap Pelaporan Berita Akhbar Utusan Malaysia dan Berita Harian Sejurus Sebelum dan Selepas Pilihanraya Umum Ke-10 Malaysia.

Penyelidikan mengenai pelaporan media yang berkaitan isu-isu perkauman bukanlah suatu yang bam. Namun begitu, penyelidikan pelaporan media isu perkauman yang berasaskan perspektif kritikal masih kurang diberikan tumpuan oleh smjana komunikasi dan pengkaji media di negara ini. Research on media reporting about racial issues is not new. However, research on media reporting about racial issues based on critical perspectives were less favoured by the communication and media researchers in this country

Sensor Node for Medical Application

Sensor network has been used in many applications namely military, medical and envirorunent. It is used to monitor and collect data from physical environment. It is used to monitor and collect data from physical envirorunent. The sensor network is basically a collection of sensor nodes usually interconnected wirelessly to perform a specific task. The aim of this project is to design and develop an automated system for medical application. The system will be using sensor nodes for collecting temperature data of the patient diagnosed with dengue fever. This system designed is to replace the current method used in hospitals to save clinicians' time and to have proper database system for future access. The sensor node system will connect patients to the PC through wireless connection mode. The temperature reading will be stored on the computer and graphs will be plotted automatically. It is envisaged that the system built will help clinicians to perform their job faster

Workplace characteristics and determinants of over-education and overskilling in the manufacturing sector in Malaysia

This paper explores the influence of workplace characteristics on the determinants of over-education and overskilling in Malaysia. Based on the 2007 Productivity Investment Climate Survey (PICS-2) dataset, about 19 percent of workers are over-educated while 29 percent are overskilled (7% severely overskilled and 22% moderately overskilled). The multinomial logit reveals that workplace characteristics such as firm size, percentage of university workers at the workforce, types of ownership, number of competitors, and types of hiring practices all influence over-education. Nevertheless, the severely overskilled individual is less evident in firms with higher share of university workers, lower proportion of foreign ownership, higher number of competitors (> 25 competitors), and in firms where education and technical skills are of highest priority for hiring workers. Therefore, it may be surmised that the existence of such incidences is not only due to individuals’ characteristics as found in other studies but also contributed by employer characteristics where individuals work at

Pengaruh kompetensi keusahawanan terhadap tingkahlaku inovatif

Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengenalpasti hubungan di antara kompetensi keusahawanan terhadap tingkahlaku inovatif. Responden yang terlibat dalam kajian ini ialah guru praperkhidmatan (pelajar) yang sedang mengikuti pengajian Program Ijazah Sarjana Muda Perguruan (PISMP) di Institut Pendidikan Guru Malaysia (IPG). Seramai 413 orang pelajar PISMP telah dipilih daripada beberapa buah IPG di seluruh Malaysia. Instrumen soal selidik digunakan untuk mendapatkan maklumbalas responden terhadap konstruk-konstruk yang dikaji. Instrumen untuk mengukur konstruk kompetensi keusahawanan telah dibangunkan sendiri oleh pengkaji. Instrumen untuk mengukur tingkahlaku inovatif adalah ubahsuai daripada Messmann & Mulder (2012). Analisis pengesahan faktor peringkat kedua (second order confirmatory factor analysis) digunakan untuk mendapatkan indeks padanan model hipotesis dengan data kajian. Modifikasi model dilakukan untuk mendapatkan nilai indeks padanan yang baik (good fit) dalam menentusahkan model pengukuran konstruk kompetensi keusahawanan dan tingkahlaku inovatif. Semua model pengukuran digabungkan untuk membentuk model persamaan struktural. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan kompetensi keusahawanan mempunyai hubungan langsung yang positif dengan tingkahlaku inovatif. Beberapa implikasi kajian dikemukakan dalam penyelidikan ini khususnya dalam penyediaan bakal guru yang inovatif

Al-Sahabah: Kontradiksi Antara Nas-Nas Islam Dengan Riwayat Sejarah

Tesis ini membahaskan tentang kemuliaan kedudukan para sahabah Rasulullah s.a.w. yang dilihat pada timbangan al-Quran, Hasil dari mendapati al-Sunnah dan sebahagian riwayat-riwayat sejarah. perbandingan dari tiga sumber tersebut telah wujudnya pertentangan watak antara apa yang digambarkan oleh al-Quran dan al-Sunnah di satu pihak dengan sebahagian riwayat sejarah di satu pihak yang lain. AI-Quran dan al-Sunnah telah memberikan nilaian yang begitu tinggi terhadap para sahabah Nabi s.a.w. sementara sebahagian riwayat sejarah telah menggambarkan mereka dengan watak yang amat tidak bersesuaian dengan sifat-sifat yang dikurniakan oleh al-Ouran dan al-Sunnah. This thesis discusses about the dignity of the companions of the Messenger of God (p.b.h) as seen in the light of al-Qur'an, al-Sunnah and historical annals. As a result of comparative study of the three said sources, there appears to exist conflicting character as potrayed in al-Qur'an and al-Sunnah on the one hand and some of the historical narratives on of the other. AI-Qur'an and alSunnah have highly cormnended the conduct of the companions of the Prophet (p.b.h), while some of historical annals have depicted them as having such character which is most unsuitable to the conduct accorded by ai-Qur'an and alSunnah

Radiation and Temperature Effects on Conductivity and Dielectric Properties of Poly (Vinyl Alcohol)-Potassium Hydroxide-Propylene Carbonate

The physical and chemical properties of polymeric materials can be modified by treatment with ionizing radiation. This radiation processing technique has been used to modify the structural and electrical properties of polymer composites for use as electrical devices. Alkaline composite polyrner electrolytes (ACPEs) are materials that have attracted great attention for their vast application in the development of solid-state ionic devices. The materials have their chemical and electrical properties change with radiation dose allowing modification of the electrolytes in the solid state form. One serious problem of the ACPEs is low ionic conductivity at room temperature because they have a tendency to crystallize. In this study radiation-processing technique was chosen to increase the ionic conductivity at room temperature. The ACPE consists of poly(viny1 alcohol) (PVA) as the host polymer, potassium hydroxide (KOH) as an ionic blend and propylene carbonate (PC) as a plastisizer. The compositions of KOH and PC were varied from 40 to 70%. The electrolytes were prepared by chemical method and the finished films were obtained by solvent-casting technique. The films were irradiated with 1.25 MeV gamma rays with dose from 0 to 200 kGy at room temperature. The sample of irradiated and unirradiated films of different compositions was placed between two parallel-plate metal electrodes and the conductivity and dielectric properties were measured using an impedance analyzer at different frequencies ranging from 20 Hz to 1 MHz. For the unirradiated samples, the conductivity and dielectric properties were also measured at different temperatures of narrow range from room temperature to 343 K. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements were performed to characterize the change of molecular structure of the electrolytes with radiation dose and compositions of the blend and plastisizer. The results show that the ACPE sample of PVA-KOH (40 wt.%)- PC (60 wt.%) irradiated with dose 200 kGy exhibits the highest ionic conductivity of 2.7 x 10'~s cm-' at room temperature. For ACPE sample with PVA-KOH (40 wt.%)-PC (60 wt.%) the highest ionic conductivity value is 7.8 x scm-' at 343 K. The results show that the frequency dependent conductivity and dielectric constant of the ACPEs depend on radiation dose, temperature and composition of the blends and plastisizer. From the XRD analysis, the molecular structure of the electrolytes change from semi-crystalline to amorphous when the composition of PC increased to 60% and the radiation dose increased to 200 kGy. Finally, we have demonstrated that radiation processing can be used to modify ACPEs to increase their ionic conductivity for the development of solidstate ionic devices

Pendekatan siasah Syar’iyyah dalam memertabatkan institusi masjid di Malaysia.

Siyasah Syar`iyyah adalah suatu ilmu yang berkaitan dengan pengurusan dan pentadbiran sesebuah negara yang berasaskan kepada syariah yang diturunkan oleh Allah. Ia merupakan satu ilmu yang diberikan oleh Allah untuk menguruskan bumi ini. Siasah syariyyah memainkan peranan penting dalam pentadbiran negara