Perception of Students on Services at the Computer Laboratory: A Case Study at the School of Mathematical Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

AbstractIn this study, we investigate the perception of students on the services provided by the computer lab at the School of Mathematical Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. The main aim of the study is to measure the levels of importance and satisfaction on the services according to the perspectives among the students. In addition, the study also identify the reasons why the students use the computer lab, frequency of usage per student per semester, and the type of mathematical sciences software that are often used. The analysis shows that for all the factors considered, the mean satisfaction scores are lower than the mean importance scores. This implies that the facilities at the computer lab should be upgraded for items that have been given low satisfaction scores. The results and the responds recorded are important to the management of the labs in terms of planning and carrying out immediate improvement to the facilities provided in order to facilitate teaching and learning in the computer labs

Relationship between personality and coping with stress among undergraduates of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

Personality and stress play an important role in our daily life. Stress will bring a positive effect, i.e. as a motivation if we can manage and handle it well. Therefore strategy of coping style is very important when one is under stress. The aim of this study is to explore the relationship between personality type and coping with stress style among undergraduates of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Specifically, the aim is to find out whether types of personality will affect the coping style when an undergraduate is under stress. This study also investigates the influence of demographic aspects of gender, ethnicity and stream of faculty on the relationship. Data were collected using questionnaires which were distributed to a total of 370 undergraduates from various faculties. Psychological test tools of NEO Five Factor Inventory and Coping Inventory for Stressful Situation were used to determine the personality and coping style of the respondents. The data were analyzed using SPSS. The data analysis techniques include descriptive analysis, reliability analysis, nonparametric correlation and partial nonparametric correlation tests. The results show that there are moderate positive correlations between Conscientiousness and problem-focused coping style, and between Neuroticism and emotion-focused coping style. Besides that, there are significant weak positive correlations between Extraversion and Openness with problem-focused coping style. Nonparametric test shows that Agreeableness and Conscientiousness are different between the genders. Results also show that Extraversion and Conscientiousness personality types, and the Avoidance coping style are significantly different among the ethnics. A few suggestions were also given for further study in the futur

Applying Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and Self-Organizing Maps for Forensic Classification of White-Copy Papers

White-copy A4 paper is an important kind of substrate for preparation of most formal as well as informal documents. It often encountered as questioned document in cases such as falsification, embezzlement or forgery. By comparing the questioned piece, (e.g. of a contract) against the rest deemed authentic, forgery indicator could be derived from an inconsistent chemical composition.  However, classification and even differentiation of white copy paper have been difficult due to highly similar physical properties and chemical composition. Self-organizing map (SOM) has been proven useful in many published works as a good tool for clustering and classification of samples, especially when involving high-dimensional data. In this preliminary paper, we explore the feasibility of SOM in classifying white copy paper for forensic purposes. A total of 150 infrared spectra were collected from three varieties of white paper using Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier-transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy. Each IR spectrum composed of over thousands of wavenumbers (i.e. input variables) and resembles chemical fingerprint for the sample. Comparative performance between raw wavenumbers and its reduced form (i.e. principal components, PCs) in SOM modeling also conducted. Results showed that SOM built with PCs is much efficient than built with raw wavenumbers, with the classification accuracy of over 90% is obtained with external validation test. This study shows that SOM coupled with ATR-FTIR spectroscopy could be a potential non-destructive approach for forensic paper analysis

Perception of community residents on supporting urban agriculture in Malaysian city: case study at Bukit Mertajam

The purpose of this study is to identify the concept of urban agriculture in the residential environment of a community by taking the Taman Desa Damai community of Bukit Mertajam City, Penang State, Malaysia as the sample. This study conducted in-depth interviews and observations with 15 community residents to explore the influences of setting up urban agriculture with respect to three aspects of community residents benefits at the social, economics and environmental levels, and followed by about future farm environmental effect, key stakeholders and the challenges. The results indicate that community farming has become significant in realizing the full potential of the residential community and facing obstacles to be sustained in the long term. We recommend stakeholders to support in terms of finance so that community farming has more access to technical facilities and achieve household food self-sufficiency, food availability and food security, diversity of diet and contribute immensely to urban household’s livelihoods. It is hoped that this work will be a useful reference in promoting more urban community participation in community urban agriculture in order to achieve sustainable urban environment

Simulasi trafik di beberapa persimpangan utama di bandar raya Melaka

Kesesakan lalu lintas pada waktu puncak adalah satu daripada isu yang sering berlaku di Malaysia. Hal ini boleh menyebabkan pembaziran masa, wang serta memberi tekanan emosi kepada pemandu. Sistem kawalan lampu isyarat yang kurang berkesan adalah satu daripada faktor yang menyumbang kepada masalah ini. Walaupun kebanyakan sistem lampu isyarat telah menggunakan teknologi sensor bagi meningkatkan kecekapan, namun masih berlaku kesesakan lalu lintas pada waktu puncak. Kajian ini membuat simulasi terhadap beberapa persimpangan utama di bandar raya Melaka pada waktu puncak bagi menganalisis kesesakan trafik yang berlaku di persimpangan tersebut. Seterusnya, beberapa model susunan sistem lampu isyarat digunakan untuk melihat keberkesanan dalam mengurangkan purata masa menunggu dan jumlah kenderaan yang menunggu di setiap lorong. Suatu model alternatif yang telah dilaksanakan di beberapa buah negara luar turut dimodelkan ke dalam sistem simulasi tersebut. Hasil simulasi menunjukkan purata masa menunggu dan jumlah kenderaan yang menunggu di setiap lorong di persimpangan tersebut dapat dikurangkan dengan menukar urutan dan fasa pada sistem lampu isyarat

Discrete event simulation and data envelopment analysis models for selecting the best resource allocation alternative at an emergency department’s green zone

The Green Zone of Emergency Department Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (EDHUSM) which provides treatment for non-critical cases contributes partly to the hustle and bustle in the emergency department. The imbalance of doctors and nurses with the patient ratio which forms the resources’ bottleneck further results to the long patients’ waiting time especially after the office hours and during weekends and public holidays. Collectively, this disproportion and bottlenecks roots up the current problem faced by Green Zone EDHUSM which constantly fails to achieve the KPIs set by the hospital. Henceforth, this study focuses on the best resource allocation of doctors and nurses for shifts during the weekdays and for shifts during weekends and public holidays. The hybrid method of Discrete Event Simulation, and Data Envelopment Analysis models such as BCC-input oriented and Super-Efficiency, were deployed to obtain the best resource allocation for the two groups of shift. The method produced a series of resources allocation alternatives for doctors and nurses with a total of 64 alternatives for weekdays and 729 alternatives for weekends and public holidays. The results show that the best allocation for doctors and nurses during weekdays are three doctors and three nurses serving for every shift, while during weekends and public holidays, a combination of four doctors and four nurses for every shift are the best. The proposed combinations have reduced the average waiting time, optimized the utilization of doctors and nurses, and managed to increase the number of patients served during weekdays, weekends and public holidays

A proposed simulation optimization model framework for emergency department problems in public hospital

The Emergency Department (ED) is a very complex system with limited resources to support increase in demand.ED services are considered as good quality if they can meet the patient’s expectation.Long waiting times and length of stay is always the main problem faced by the management.The management of ED should give greater emphasis on their capacity of resources in order to increase the quality of services, which conforms to patient satisfaction.This paper is a review of work in progress of a study being conducted in a government hospital in Selangor, Malaysia.This paper proposed a simulation optimization model framework which is used to study ED operations and problems as well as to find an optimal solution to the problems. The integration of simulation and optimization is hoped can assist management in decision making process regarding their resource capacity planning in order to improve current and future ED operations

Model sistem dinamik untuk meramalkan bilangan pesakit dan keperluan sumber tenaga di Zon Kuning Jabatan Kecemasan

Jabatan Kecemasan Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (JKHUSM) telah menunjukkan perubahan yang pesat dan menghadapi transformasi drastik berhubung dengan kepentingan dalam sistem penjagaan kesihatan. Peramalan dan perancangan sumber yang munasabah perlu dilakukan bagi memenuhi permintaan pesakit yang kian bertambah. Justeru, kajian ini memfokuskan kepada Zon Kuning di JKHUSM yang memerlukan perancangan sewajarnya atas keperluan sumber yang sepatutnya disediakan pada masa kini dan akan datang untuk membantu pihak pengurusan dalam perancangan strategik jabatan serta menambah baik aliran pesakit dan perkhidmatan di zon tersebut. Pemodelan Sistem Dinamik telah dibangunkan untuk meramalkan bilangan pesakit yang akan berkunjung serta jumlah sumber yang diperlukan untuk memenuhi permintaan perkhidmatan di Zon Kuning JKHUSM pada masa sekarang (2014) dan masa hadapan bagi tempoh lima (2019) dan sepuluh tahun akan datang (2024). Hasil kajian meramalkan sumber yang diperlukan bagi memenuhi permintaan pesakit yang berkunjung di Zon Kuning pada masa sekarang adalah seramai 11 orang doktor, 12 orang jururawat dan 18 buah katil berbanding dengan sembilan orang doktor, sembilan orang jururawat dan 16 buah katil sedia ada. Seterusnya penambahan dua buah katil diramalkan untuk memenuhi keperluan pesakit bagi tempoh lima dan sepuluh tahun akan datang. Manakala tiada penambahan doktor dan jururawat diperlukan bagi memenuhi permintaan pesakit bagi tempoh lima tahun akan datang. Namun begitu dijangkakan penambahan seorang doktor dan seorang jururawat diperlukan bagi memenuhi permintaan 10 tahun akan datang. Oleh itu, peramalan penambahan sumber ini adalah sangat penting untuk menambah baik aliran pesakit di Zon Kuning JKHUSM serta membantu dalam mencapai Penunjuk Prestasi Utama jabatan ini. Hasil kajian yang diperoleh akan membantu pihak pengurusan membuat keputusan yang wajar dengan belanjawan yang telah ditetapkan demi meningkatkan kualiti perkhidmatan yang ditawarkan di samping meningkatkan tahap prestasi Zon Kuning JKHUSM