The relationship between total quality management and firm performance at Majlis Agama Islam dan Adat Melayu Perak (MAIPk), Ipoh, Perak / Norsiha Abdul Hanid

This study to investigate the relationship between Total Quality Management between Firm Performance at Majlis Agama Islam Dan Adat Melayu Perak (MAIPk), Ipoh, Perak. Hence, for this research, the researcher decided to distribute the questionnaires to only 103 of employee Majlis Agama Islam Dan Adat Melayu Perak (MAIPk), Ipoh, Perak. The objectives of this study were to identify the most contributing factor of Total Quality Management towards Firm Performance at Majlis Agama Islam Dan Adat Melayu Perak (MAIPk), Ipoh, Perak and to examine the relationship between Total Quality Management and Firm Performance at Majlis Agama Islam Dan Adat Melayu Perak (MAIPk), Ipoh, Perak. Moreover, this study provided a lot of advantage to the researcher and the people in the organization because it created more understanding on the relationship between Total Quality Management and Firm Performance. There were three elements in Total Quality Management that been studied which were training, leadership and customers focus. Finding in this study concludes the most contributing factor of total quality management towards firm performance at Majlis Agama Islam Dan Adat Melayu Perak (MAIPk), Ipoh, Perak was training with the highest mean 4.1883. While, leadership with mean .41534 and customer focus with mean 4.1534. While, based on the findings in correlation analysis, there is strong, positive relationship between Total Quality Management and firm performance among employees Majlis Agama Islam Dan Adat Melayu Perak (MAIPk), Ipoh, Perak which was statistically significant with value (r=.639, p<.01)

Input Use and Productivity across Farm Sizes: A Comparison of the Two Punjabs

Agricultural production depends upon certain crucial inputs e.g., water, fertilizer etc. In the less developed regions of South Asia in general, and the indo-Pakistan sub-continent in particular, the use of these inputs depends not only upon the financial affordability but also upon the institutional accessibility of farmers to these inputs. Besides high economic costs, bureaucratic controls and corruption regarding the distribution of inputs have created problems of limited accessibility, especially to the small farmers. In the absence of any credit, information and/or input distribution networks, the use of these inputs, and related productivity gains, become confined to that class of farmers which not only has better access to these inputs but is capable of using them in the best possible way e.g. use of water and fertilizer in the appropriate amount and at the appropriate time. This paper attempts to study how input use and input productivity vary across farm sizes, with some reference to the infrastructural and institutional factors, whose development play an important role in improving the distribution and productivity of inputs. For such an analysis, a comparison of the two Punjabs i.e. Pakistani and Indian Punjabs, presents an ideal framework, Separated by a national boundary since 1947, the two Punjabs enjoy a common history and culture, similar agricultural practices and agro-climatic conditions, Government policies in the two Punjabs, however, have not only differed between the two provinces at the same time, but also over time in the same province. It may be noted that due to certain policy measures, land distribution, tenancy conditions, promotion of agricultural co-operatives and provision of infrastructural features, such as roads and electricity, are relatively more improved in Indian than Pakistani Punjab

Validity of instrument to measure primary school mathematics teachers’ acceptance of m-learning applications

Mobile learning (M-learning) is one of the proposed technology-based methods for teaching mathematics in today’s education 4.0 era. This method enables teachers to conduct instruction and learning without being bounded by walls, wires, and the need for specialized physical infrastructure and facilities. This study was conducted to develop and validate an instrument for evaluating primary school mathematics teachers’ acceptance of M-learning applications in problem-solving teaching involving six variables. This research is quantitative and utilizes a questionnaire to collect data. This study involved a total of four experts and 120 participants. Cronbach’s alpha and Exploratory Factor Analysis were used to perform a descriptive analysis of the data. Cronbach’s alpha was determined to be 0.934, with a factor eigenvalue greater than 1. The Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin value for each construct is 0.50, whereas Bartlett’s test value is statistically significant (&lt;0.5). Each item has a factor loading of 0.50 and a variance of ≥60%. The findings showed that this instrument contains six constructs and nineteen appropriate items. It also indicated that this instrument could be used to investigate perceptions of the primary school mathematics teachers’ acceptance of m-learning applications in problem-solving teaching instruments involving performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, behavioral intention, and usage behavior (attitude)

Design science research as an approach to develop conceptual solutions for improving cost management in construction

Despite the progress that has been made with regard to construction cost management, many drawbacks including the unpredictability of construction costs continue to raise concerns. This research study aimed to contribute to improving construction cost management by identifying the key issues which contribute to such drawbacks, and developing conceptual solutions to mitigate them. The design science approach has been selected as the overall research method. Design science approach has been augmented through an analysis to the root cause of each identified key issue, an inference of countermeasure to the each root cause (conceptual solution), and synthesis of the (practical) solutions. This research has identified failure to forecast, failure to support improvement opportunities, costs being considered as resulting from action, neglect of value consideration, poor support for inter-organizational cost management, negative influence on behaviour, and constraints created by budgeting, as key issues contributing to the current drawback of construction cost management. This study proposes the recognition of waste through flow theory, integrating costs to design, value generation theory, seeing construction as production, incentives aligned to improvement, separating the different functions of budgeting and the dynamic approach to managing costs as solutions to the identified drawbacks. The outcomes of this study contribute to developing practical solutions for constriction cost management, and also represent conceptual gains in the field

The Effectiveness of Career Programme on Career Development at Exploration Stage among Secondary School Students in Dungun, Terengganu, Malaysia

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of career programme on career development at exploration stage among the secondary school students at Dungun, Terengganu. This study was based on Super’s Career Developmental Theory (1971,1990). Six variables were used that were self-knowledge, career information exploration, career planning, educational and vocational exploration, career decision making and job readiness strategy. The research design in this study was the true experimental pre-test post-test control group design. Two instruments were used in this study, that were SIPK and MPK. The validity and reliability of these two instruments were tested. The results showed that the validity of SIPK were .85 and .80, the reliability were .91 and .89. Whereby the validity of MPK were .89 and .84, the reliability were .98 and .93. Thus the validity and reliability of these two instruments were good. The sample of this study consists of 136 form 4 students who were selected through a combination technique of randomised group cluster and simple randomised sampling. They were divided into two groups that were the experimental group (68) and the control group (68). The experimental group had undergone all the activities based on the MPK and not for the control group. The data collected were analysed by two statistical analysis that were descriptive analysis and inferential analysis. The descriptive analysis used were mean, standard deviation and percentage, whereby the inferential analysis used were two dependent samples t-test and two independent samples t-test. The level of significant chose was .05. The descriptive analysis of data showed that the experimental group reported increasing in career development compared to the control group, there was no increase in career development. In the inferential analysis, the result revealed: 1) there was a significant difference between the mean score of pre- test and the post-test in experimental group for all six variables tested. 2) there was no significant difference between the mean score of pre-test and the post- test in control group for all six variables tested. 3) there was a significant difference of the score mean of post-test between the experimental and the control group for all six variables tested. The significant differences occured between the mean score of pre-test and post-test in the experimental group was the result of the effectiveness career programme that had been carried out. Whereas in the control group there was no significant difference occured between the mean score of the pre-test and post-test. Thus, the Super’s Career Development Theory (1971,1990), the measuring instruments SIPK and MPK were suitable to be used for the career development programme in secondary school students. Based on the findings of this study, implications and suggestions were put forward

Validity of instrument to measure mathematics teachers’ perceptions towards problem-based learning activities

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a proposed method for teaching mathematics in primary education in the education 4.0 era. This method enables teachers to conduct effective instruction by allowing students to explore alternative solutions to problems. This study was conducted to develop and validate an instrument for evaluating primary school mathematics teachers’ perceptions of PBL activities. This research is quantitative, and a questionnaire was employed to collect data. The data obtained were analyzed descriptively utilizing Cronbach’s alpha and exploratory factor analysis (EFA). It is determined that Cronbach’s alpha is 0.885, with a factor eigenvalue greater than 1. The Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) value for each construct is 0.50, whereas Bartlett’s test value is statistically significant (&lt;0.5). Each item has a factor loading of 0.50 or higher and a standard deviation of ≥60%. This study’s results indicated that this instrument can be used to investigate primary school mathematics teachers’ perceptions of PBL activities involving group division, generating ideas and learning issues, identifying problems, self-directed learning, synthesis and application, reflection, and assessment

Frequência dos alelos HLA DQ2 E HLA DQ8 em celíacos e seus parentes de primeiro grau no Distrito Federal

A doença celíaca é uma condição crônica desencadeada pela presença do glúten em indivíduos geneticamente predispostos. O objetivo desse artigo é avaliar a frequência dos alelos predisponentes DQA1*05 e DQB1*02 (HLA DQ2) e DQA1*03 e DQB1*03:02 (HLA DQ8) para a doença celíaca em celíacos e seus parentes de primeiro grau, no Distrito Federal. Foi realizada a genotipagem dos alelos em 208 celíacos e 481 parentes de primeiro grau desses celíacos. As amostras foram amplificadas pelo método de PCR em tempo real. Entre os celíacos, 75,49% apresentaram a variante DQ2, 10,58% tinham o HLA DQ8; 7,69% apresentaram DQ2 e DQ8; 5,28% tinham apenas um dos alelos DQ2 e 0,96% nenhum dos alelos predisponentes. Entre os parentes, 48,02% apresentaram a variante DQ2; 10,81% tinham o DQ8; 24,12% apenas um dos alelos DQ2; 1,25% apresentaram o alelo DQA1*03 e 9,77% nenhum dos alelos. No presente estudo a distribuição das frequências corroboraram com estudos realizados no Distrito Federal, bem como Recife, Paraná, Europa, Estados Unidos e Cuba

A Study of Transaction Cost within the Supply Chain Network in Malaysia Construction Projects

— Construction industry of Malaysia is a complex and confronts with serious issues of cost overrun. Construction supply chain which involves multi-layered supply network carries lot of potential for conflict and additional costs involving additional transaction cost. To tackle this issue, the primary aim of this study is to identify component of waste in transaction cost within multi-layered supply chain network in Malaysian construction industry. The qualitative research approach is adopted to achieve the research objectives of this study. The data were collected through semi-structured interview from five (5) quantity surveyors working with a contractor firm situated within Klang Valley region. The implication of the finding implies that the identified data are crucial in eliminating waste in transaction cost