Sailing the Archipelago in a Boat of Rhymes Pantun in the Malay World

The extremely popular poetic form from Insular Southeast Asia, the pantun, travelled from its unknown source throughout the Malay Archipelago, first in Malay, then in the languages of Southeast Asia. In the ports and states where they were received, local colour, other idiosyncrasies, references, and linguistic characteristics have been added, and in fact, special forms with special names developed. This basic form is known, composed, and loved in at least 40 dialects of Malay, and 35 non-Malay languages, in the Peninsula and many of the islands of Malaysia and Indonesia. It spread through trade routes, ports, and also via diasporas and colonial economic projects which caused numerous peoples to move, who in turn brought the pantun along with them. It is now the most dynamic single literary form and has the longest history

Dynamic inter-relationship between trade, economic growth and tourism in Malaysia

This study aims to test a hypothesis that postulate a positive inter-relationship between international flows of tourist, trade and economic growth. Although tourism is one of the major components in the trade of services, and it has been certified by large number of literatures on the strong correlation between tourism industry and economic development, yet not much is known on the dynamic inter-relationship between these three variables. Closing-up this gaping hole, this study employs the cointegration tests under autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) structure to investigate a dynamic inter-relationship between economic development, total trade (import and export) and number of tourist arrival for Malaysia and her major tourism partners ((ASEAN countries) . The estimated result based on the long run time series behavior for number of tourist arrival, volume of total trade and economic development’s indicator shows that these three variables are moved in tandem. Interestingly, in the analysis of short run behavior, we find that number of tourist arrival has significantly Granger caused total trade flows at least for some countries. At the same time, in the short-run, we find that both growth in total trade (export and import) and international tourists’ arrival to Malaysia have uni-directionally Granger caused real income growth and there is statistical evidence for international trade to lead tourist arrival.economic growth, trade, tourism, cointegration, and Malaysia

Case studies of the human critical success factors in information technology (IT) implementation in Malaysian construction industry

Incorporating information technology (IT) into the business process becomes the major concern of every industry around the world. Unfortunately, the high failure rates of IT implementation revealed by researches became a serious concern to all. Much has been written about the critical success factors (CSFs) for IT implementation. But none have highlighted the major reasons for the failure, which is human issue. Human are the foundation of every organization will determine the success and failure of IT implementation. More attention should be given to this issue in an effort to reduce the failure rates. In regards to this matter, this research paper identified the CSFs focusing on the human issue. Literature findings listed 21 CSFs that contribute to the success of IT implementation across industries. Four construction organizations were selected to test the existence of the factors identified. Semi-structured interviews were employed as they offer sufficient flexibility to ensure that all relevant factors are covered. Several key issues contributing to successful implementations of IT are identified. Findings reported in this research paper will benefits the construction organizations by giving them a clearer understanding on CSFs in implementing IT, maximising the probability to success and also serve as a guideline for future planning

Integrating vocational training in culinary arts and Islamic studies at juvenile rehabilitation centres: Malaysian experience

The Juvenile Rehabilitation Centres (JRC) in Malaysia aims to provide shelter, counselling and skills training to juveniles specifically for those who wish to transform themselves from the regrettable misdeeds they have committed. At JRCs, an integrated Culinary Vocational Training and Islamic education forms part of their training curriculum. The skills acquired should enable trainees to secure jobs upon completion of training. However, there are some training institutions that lack systematic training structures resulting in trainees becoming less skilful in both vocational and Islamic education. The objective of this research is to identify the effectiveness of an integrated Culinary and Islamic Education curriculum implemented at JRCs in Malaysia. This is a descriptive survey and data was obtained using questionnaire and interview. Respondents comprised 92 trainees, four managers, four culinary trainers and four Islamic education teachers, all from four different JRCs. The findings show that the trainees are happy with their trainings that brought about positive effects for them. Some suggestions have been made to provide improvements in the implementation of the course among them the inclusion of prayers in the Islamic education syllabus

In situ imaging of microstructure formation in electronic interconnections

The development of microstructure during melting, reactive wetting and solidification of solder pastes on Cu-plated printed circuit boards has been studied by synchrotron radiography. Using Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu/Cu and Sn-0.7Cu/Cu as examples, we show that the interfacial Cu6Sn5 layer is present within 0.05 s of wetting, and explore the kinetics of flux void formation at the interface between the liquid and the Cu6Sn5 layer. Quantification of the nucleation locations and anisotropic growth kinetics of primary Cu6Sn5 crystals reveals a competition between the nucleation of Cu6Sn5 in the liquid versus growth of Cu6Sn5 from the existing Cu6Sn5 layer. Direct imaging confirms that the β-Sn nucleates at/near the Cu6Sn5 layer in Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu/Cu joints

Hybrid features-based prediction for novel phish websites

Phishers frequently craft novel deceptions on their websites and circumvent existing anti-phishing techniques for insecure intrusions, users’ digital identity theft, and then illegal profits. This raises the needs to incorporate new features for detecting novel phish websites and optimizing the existing anti-phishing techniques. In this light, 58 new hybrid features were proposed in this paper and their prediction susceptibilities were evaluated by using feature co-occurrence criterion and a baseline machine learning algorithm. Empirical test and analysis showed the significant outcomes of the proposed features on detection performance. As a result, the most influential features are identified, and new insights are offered for further detection improvement

Properties of Natural Rubber/Recycled Chloroprene Rubber Blend: Effects of Blend Ratio and Matrix

AbstractThe present study investigated the effects of two types of natural rubber and different blend ratios on the cure, tensile properties and morphology of natural rubber/recycled chloroprene rubber blends. The blends of natural rubber/recycled chloroprene rubber were prepared by using laboratory two-roll mill. The result showed that the cure time prolonged with the addition of recycled chloroprene rubber (rCR). Comparability, natural rubber/recycled chloroprene rubber (SMR L/rCR) blendcured rapidly than epoxidized natural rubber/recycled chloroprene rubber (ENR 50/rCR) blend. The addition of rCRalso caused a decrement in the tensile strength and elongation at break for both rubber blends. The SMR L/rCR blendsshowed higher tensile strength and elongation at break compared to those of ENR 50/rCR blends at any blend ratios

Students' Interest and Usefulness of Fieldwork Approaches to History

It is very exciting that history in the Integrated Cmriculum forSecondary School (ICSS) has been included as one of the core subjects inthe lower and upper secondary levels of Malaysian schools. These subjectsare officially included in the time table of the ordinary, religious, science,vocational and technical schools in the country. One of the most importantand effective methods introduced in the teaching and learning of historyis a fieldwork approaches, particularly a site visit. Since history is acompulsory subject, it is necessary to study and analyse the ICSS historycurriculum to see i f it really could achieve the objectives of the syllabus,successfully imparting knowledge and develop interest among studentsin the subject. The study involved about eight hundred students of selectedsecondary schools in the states of Perak and Terengganu. Instr\imentsused were questionnaire and interview which were conducted with theselected respondents. The analysis of the study were presented inpercentage by using six Likert scale responses. The study shows that historyfieldwork contain many usefulness such as to develop, spark/ stimulate,motivate, investigate, prove, gain social experience, social sldUs, buildteacher-student relation, teaching-learning method, and fulfil NationalCurriculum. Moreover, the effective used of history fieldwork can enhancestudent interest in developing the country towards the advancement of'first class mind' of human capital of Malaysian. It is hoped that the findingwill enlighten teachers and students in the learning of history in the ICSStowards achieving the stipulated aspiration, especially 1-Malaysia