Reading motivation of students in a secondary school in rural area of Johor

The problems of reading among Malaysians are worsening. Based on National Literacy Survey, it is proved that Malaysians hardly ever read. The Malaysia exam-oriented education system as well as the issue of reverting back to Malay language as the medium of instruction in schools were also the main concerns of this study. This study is conducted to find out the problems that learners face in reading in English and the factors that affect learners‘ motivation in reading. The study is also carried out to examine the way in which the factors affect learners‘ motivation in reading. Twelve learners of a rural secondary school in the district of Kulai were chosen for the interview sessions while 100 learners were randomly chosen for the quantitative data collection. The instruments used for this study were interviews and questionnaire. Results from the interviews conducted with twelve learners from different levels of English proficiency revealed that the lack of English reading resources especially in schools and their financial problems has hindered their access to their favourite reading materials. Learners also faced problems in comprehending certain texts, especially the difficult and complicated ones and they did not have adequate background knowledge related to the texts. The other problems revolved around vocabulary use, had difficulty with unfamiliar and unknown words and the lack of interest towards English reading materials. It was also discovered that there were 5 main factors that affect learners‘ motivation in reading namely intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, competency and reading efficacy, social aspects for reading and encouragement from English teachers. Furthermore, extrinsic motivation factor was found as the most important factor to motivate learners (mean=3.86). It is hoped that the findings of the study would provide useful insights to the language teachers and educators, parents and school administrators in planning and executing their roles more efficiently in the future. This is to ensure that more learners especially from the rural schools would become more motivated to take up reading English books as a pastime as this would definitely help them become more proficient in English

SOSIALISASI PENERAPAN MODEL PEMBELAJARAN COURSE REVIEW HORAY DAN MODEL PEMBELAJARAN MAKE A MATCH

AbstrakTujuan kegiatan pengabdian ini adalah memberikan sosialisasi penerapan dua model pembelajaran yaitu model course review horay dan model make a match dalam pembelajaran matematika. Populasi dalam kegiatan pengabdian ini adalah seluruh siswa kelas VII SMP Negeri 26 Makassar yang berjumlah 278 siswa. Teknik pengambilan sampel yang digunakan adalah teknik simple random sampling. Sampel kegiatan pengabdian ini adalah siswa kelas VII-1 dengan jumlah siswa 30 orang terpilih sebagai kelas eksperimen1 sedangkan kelas VII-3 dengan jumlah 31 orang sebagai kelas eksperimen 2. Instrumen yang digunakan untuk mengetahui hasil belajar siswa berupa tes essai. Data diolah menggunakan analisis deskriptif. AbstractThis dedication activity aims to provide socialization for applying two learning models, namely the course review horay model and the make a match model in mathematics learning. The population in this service activity was all students of class VII SMP Negeri 26 Makassar, totalling 278 students. The sampling technique used was a simple random sampling technique. The sample of this service activity was class VII-1 students with 30 students selected as the experimental class1 while class VII-3 with 31 people as the experimental class 2. The instrument used to determine student learning outcomes was in the form of an essay test. The data were processed using descriptive analysis

Water Treatment Sludge Stabilizer Binder by Waste Paper Sludge Ash for Solidification/Stabilisation Technique

Waste Paper Sludge Ash (WPSA) used as stabilizer binder to treat water treatment sludge (WTS). This study was conducted to treat WTS by using WPSA in Solidification/Stabilisation (S/S) technique. 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50% of WPSA was utilized to treat 200g of WTS. 100% of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) was used as control specimen. For testing, compressive strength and leaching test on WTS treated with WPSA at specified percentage were performed. It was experimentally done on sample cured at 1, 3, 7 and 28 ages for the compressive strength and at 28 ages for leaching test. Results showed that compressive strength decreases with increasing WPSA content. The immobilization of cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu) and chromium (Cr) were monitored. The concentration of metals decreases with respect to percentage of WPSA added. The optimum content of WPSA to treat WTS was 50%

Heavy metals in wild Indonesian Shortfin Eel, Anguilla bicolor bicolor (Mcclelland 1844), and Giant mottled eel, A. marmorata (Quoy & Gaimard 1824), in the northwest of Peninsular Malaysia

This study reports the heavy metal assessment of Cu, Zn, Fe, Ni, and Pb from wild collected Anguilla bicolor bicolor and A. marmorata in the northwest of Peninsular Malaysia. There was no significant difference between the mean readings of heavy metal concentrations for both Anguilla species for the muscle tissue. However, for the liver, Cu, Zn and Fe concentration readings showed noticeable differences between both species. The heavy metals concentration measured from both species were higher in the liver, compared to the muscle, with the exception of Ni. All of the heavy metals in the muscle for both species are lower than the minimum permissible limits set by several International Guidelines and standards for safety consumption, with the exception of Ni and Pb. However, for liver, all of the readings exceeded the permissible limit. This study reveals that A. bicolor and A. marmorata collected from the northwest of Peninsular Malaysia contain considerable amount of toxic metals which could raise a concern with prolong consumption of the two species

PERKAHWINAN KANAK-KANAK DI MALAYSIA: HAD UMUR MINIMUM DAN IMPLIKASINYA: CHILDREN'S MARRIAGE IN MALAYSIA: MINIMUM AGE LIMIT AND ITS IMPLICATIONS

Perbezaan pemikiran, kefahaman dan interpretasi undang-undang serta kesan daripada perkahwinan di bawah umur membawa kepada perbahasan dalam kalangan masyarakat di Malaysia. Meskipun wujud had umur minimum yang diperuntukkan, namun undang-undang tersebut dilihat tidak relevan untuk diaplikasikan pada masa kini merujuk kepada implikasi perkahwinan di bawah umur yang lebih memberi kemudaratan kepada kanak-kanak terutamanya dari sudut kesihatan dan pendidikan. Jesteru itu, artikel ini akan membincangkan kedudukan perkahwinan kanak-kanak menurut perspektif Syariah dan perundangan di Malaysia. Artikel ini turut membincangkan kedudukan perkahwinan kanak-kanak di bawah Matlamat Pembangunan Mampan (SDGs) serta implikasi perkahwinan tersebut kepada diri kanak-kanak dari sudut hak kesihatan dan pendidikan. Metodologi kajian kualitatif iaitu kajian perpustakaan digunakan dengan menganalisis dokumen primer dan sekunder seperti kitab turath, Akta dan Enakmen Negeri-Negeri serta penulisan akademik di dalam jurnal. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahawa wujudnya peruntukan berkaitan perkahwinan kanak-kanak di bawah umur namun perincian secara jelas dan spesifik mengenai alasan dan faktor yang perlu diambil kira dalam memberikan kebenaran bagi perkahwinan tersebut tidak dinyatakan. Selain itu, artikel ini juga mendapati wujudnya implikasi negatif terhadap hak kesihatan dan hak pendidikan kanak-kanak hasil perkahwinan di bawah umur. Maka, artikel ini mencadangkan supaya pemurnian peruntukan sedia ada dan peningkatan kesedaran masyarakat tentang perkahwinan di bawah umur melalui pendidikan perlu di lakukan demi menjaga kemaslahatan kanak-kanak

The distribution and biological aspects of Indonesian short-fin eel, Anguilla bicolor bicolor and giant mottled eel, Anguilla marmorata in the northwest of Peninsular Malaysia

This study describes the distribution and biology of Indonesian short-fin eel, Anguilla bicolor bicolor and giant mottled eel, Anguilla marmorata collected in the northwest of Peninsular Malaysia. A total of 33 specimens of A. b. bicolor were collected from Sungai Batu Pahat, Kuala Perlis and downstream of Sungai Pinang, while five specimens of A. marmorata were collected from the upper stream of Sungai Pinang. The range of body mass and total length of A. b. bicolor and A. marmorata were 85.2-2012.1 g and 275.0-905.0 mm; and 240.1- 830.1g and498.0-756.0 mm, respectively. The individual gonadosomatic index (IG) value for A. b. bicolor collected from Perlis and Pulau Pinang indicated that 90.0% and 39.1% of the samples were in mature stages, respectively, while for A. marmorata,the individual IG value indicates that all of the samples were still immature. The occurrence and distribution of A. b. bicolor was firstly reported in Perlis, Malaysia

Heavy metals in wild Indonesian shortfin eel, Anguilla bicolor bicolor (McClelland 1844) and giant mottled eel, Anguilla marmorata (Quoy & Gaimard 1824) in the northwest of Peninsular Malaysia

This study reports the heavy metal assessment of Cu, Zn, Fe, Ni, and Pb from wild collected Anguilla bicolor bicolor and Anguilla marmorata in the northwest of Peninsular Malaysia. There was no significant difference between the mean readings of heavy metal concentrations for both Anguilla species for the muscle tissue. However, for the liver, Cu, Zn and Fe concentrations reading showed noticeable differences between both species. The heavy metals concentration measured from both species were higher in the liver, compared to the muscle, with the exception of Ni. All of the heavy metals in the muscle for both species are lower than the minimum permissible limits set by several international guidelines and standards for safety consumption, with the exception of Ni and Pb. However, for liver, all of the readings exceeded the permissible limit. This study reveals that A. marmorata and A. b. bicolor obtained from the northwest of Peninsular Malaysia contain considerable amount of toxic metals which could raise a concern with prolong consumption of the two species

Citric acid: a green cross-linker of biomaterials for biomedical application

The application of biomaterials in biomedicine currently suffers some drawbacks, such as inflammation and immunological responses due to mismatching and/or limited compatibility. Biomaterials that are cross-linked with citric acid (CA), also called citrate-based biomaterials (CBBs), have exhibited advanced in-vitro and in-vivo material properties that make them suitable for various biomedical applications. Tunable mechanical properties, biocompatibility, and biofunctionality are among other factors that make CBBs interesting in this field. To emphasize the safety and greenness nature of CA, in this review, we have highlighted the history, potential considerations of exploration, and a summarized stage-wise criterion for developing CBBs. We also discuss several points of view about the application of CA and CBBs in many different aspects of biomedicine, such as in tissue engineering, cancer therapy, and wound dressings

Annealing Treatment on Homogenous n-TiO2/ZnO Bilayer Thin Film Deposition as Window Layer for p-Cu2O-Based Heterostructure Thin Film

Metal oxide semiconductor material has great potential to act as window layer in p–n heterojunction solar cell thin film owing to low production cost and significant properties in photo-voltaic mechanism. In this work, n-TiO2/ZnO bilayer thin film was effectively constructed by means of sol-gel spin coating technique in an effort to diminish the electron-hole recombination rate from single-layered thin film. Annealing time is one of the important parameters in the fabrication process and was varied to study the impact of annealing treatment towards the thin film characteristics as window layer. It was found that the optimum parameter for the n-TiO2/ZnO bilayer was 500 °C with an annealing time of 2 h. High crystallinity of the n-(101)-TiO2/(002)-ZnO bilayer thin film was obtained, which consists of anatase and a hexagonal wurtzite structure, respectively. Orientation of (002)-ZnO is essential for deposition with the (111) Cu2O-absorbing layer due to a low different lattice mismatch between these two interfaces. The homogenous morphology of n-TiO2/ZnO bilayer was observed with a compact and dense layer. The improvement of transmittance has also been achieved in a range of 60%–80%, which indicated that the incident light can penetrate throughout the thin film directly. In addition, a p-Cu2O absorbing layer was successfully fabricated on top of n-TiO2/ZnO bilayer thin film to form a p-n junction in order to visualize significant electrical rectification properties. The existence of p-Cu2O was confirmed by a (111)-peak orientation and triangular shape in structural and morphological properties, respectively

High temperature fracture toughness and fatigue behavior of ti-zr-mo and w-re alloys for x-ray tube application

Commercial x-ray targets for computed tomography (CT) applications consist of two major components, a metal disc made of the titanium-zirconium-molybdenum (TZM) alloy, and a surface layer in the bombarding region made of the tungsten-rhenium (W-Re) alloy. The target must endure extremely high temperature, associated with high thermal stress, and mechanical stress due to the centrifugal force induced by high speed rotation of the target. Therefore, studies on high temperature fracture and fatigue behavior of these materials would be the most important for reliability assessment and safety design of the x-ray target. However, they have been rarely reported and high temperature fracture and fatigue behavior of these materials has been not always clarified. In the present study, high temperature fracture toughness was evaluated for two kind of TZM alloys, one with higher C content and the other with higher O content. Moreover, effect of forging rate on high temperature fracture toughness was discussed. Fatigue properties at room temperature and 1000 °C were evaluated for three kinds of materials, layered W-Re/TZM, bulk W-Re and bulk TZM, and a fatigue failure definition in the high temperature fatigue test was investigated to evaluate high temperature fatigue strength. The fatigue processes of these x-ray target materials at high temperature were also investigated. High temperature fracture toughness of two TZM alloys with different kinds of grain boundary particles was successfully evaluated using the convenient JIC test method. The result indicated that the JIC values at temperatures ranged from 800 °C to 1000 °C were almost constant regardless of temperature, while the JIC values of the TZM with higher C content were higher than those of the TZM with higher O content. The TZM with different forging rates showed similar JIC values, which suggested the effect of forging rate would be not significant at high temperatures. High temperature fatigue characteristics of W-Re and TZM were successfully evaluated under load-controlled four point bending test at 1000 °C by introducing a fatigue failure criterion as two-times increase of initial compliance, which was corresponding to nucleation and propagation of multiple cracks from specimen surface. The layered W-Re/TZM specimen exhibited the similar fatigue strength to the bulk W-Re specimen. The bulk TZM showed much lower fatigue strength compared to the layered W-Re/TZM and the bulk W-Re. The total crack length measured on the specimen surface at 1000 °C would be a dominant indicator for evaluating progress of fatigue damage