Modelling the effects of factors on the stated preference towards telecommuting in IIUM campus, Gombak

The increase in number of private vehicles has not only taken place in central cities, but has also occurred in university campuses. High use of private vehicles by IIUM community is posing a strain on the ability of the existing road to cope with the increasing traffic volume and parking demand within the campus. Telecommuting is one of the Transportation Demand Management (TDM) measures that aimed at reducing peak hour traffic congestion by allowing commuters to work from home to save their driving time to work, and more importantly to eliminate some vehicle trips. The main objective of this paper is to estimate the effects of the factors on the choice of telecommuting. Three hundred respondents participated in this study through survey questionnaire, which has resulted in a response rate of 67.11%. Findings indicate that 29% and 19.2% of the academic and administrative staff preferred to telecommute, if they were given the option. Multinomial logistic regression was conducted to estimate the effects of socioeconomic, trip and work related factors on the preference to telecommute. Parameter estimates on the administrative employees’ preference to telecommute indicate that number of young children, frequency of face-to-face communication and frequency of using email were significant factors in predicting whether an individual is more inclined to choose ‘definitely yes’ towards performing telecommuting as compared to ‘not at all’. As for academic employees, delay time (home-workplace), frequency of face-to-face communication, frequency of using fax machine, frequency of using email and frequency of using mobile network were significant predictors for the preference of ‘definitely yes’ towards telecommuting as compared to ‘not at all’

A literature review on the factors influencing employees' preference towards telecommuting

Telecommuting is one of the possible solutions to several problems, especially traffic congestion, parking demand in large cities around the world. It is one of the transportation demand management measures to control increase in the travel demand by private vehicles during peak hours. It is apparent that the growth in the number of private vehicles in many Universities has been exerting tremendous pressure on the road infrastructure, parking supply and related traffic facilities. The increase in the number of private vehicle trips in International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) has made congestion during peak hours resulting in long queue of vehicles entering and leaving the campus, parking along the road side resulting in decrease in road capacity and increase in environmental damages. Physical extension of the road network to overcome the traffic problems is not always possible due to the limited availability of land space and other resources. Telecommuting is one of the potential measures to overcome the increasing number of private vehicles on-campus by allowing potential employees to telecommute especially at home. The possible adoption of telecommuting by potential employees is an area of concern before it can be considered for implementation. The purpose of this paper is to analyse literature on telecommuting aspects including factors contributing towards preference to telecommute

Residents' perceptions on the effectiveness of road humps in improving Malaysian residential environments

Two common concerns for residents in their respective residential areas are high traffic speeds and noise levels. This paper analyses if road humps are viable as a measure for improving residential living environment based on their effects on traffic speed and noise. The study was conducted in three Malaysian residential areas: Putrajaya, Taman Setiawangsa, and Keramat. A questionnaire survey was distributed to 478 respondents asking for their perception on whether road humps have improved the living environment by reducing speed and noise. Binary logistic regression models were also estimated using the questionnaire data regarding whether the existing road humps have improved the living environment by reducing traffic noise. Descriptive analysis was conducted to assess changes in average vehicle speeds and noise levels for the selected 12 road humps. The significance of this paper is that it explains the effect of existing Malaysian road humps on actual residential environments, which can potentially help improve the planning of new residential areas. The result of this study is that road humps are effective in reducing vehicle speeds but are not viable as a noise reduction measure. © Avestia Publishing, 2017

Exploring the effects of factors on the willingness of female employees to telecommute in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Telecommuting is increasingly gaining attention in Malaysia as a means of both easing the worsening peak-hour traffic congestion, and retaining women in the workforce. Moreover, substantial evidence in the literature suggests that telecommuting is more suited to women who when compared to men, experience more work/non-work role conflict and more career interruptions. However, the incidence of actual telecommuting among female employees in Kuala Lumpur remains very limited. A survey of 454 women employed in the industries of financial intermediation, real estate, education and ICT in Kuala Lumpur, revealed that only 2% of the respondents were practicing telecommuters, and that more than a third (35%) of those who stated their ability to telecommute, were in fact unwilling to utilize that working arrangement if given the opportunity. The main aim of this study is to explore the factors contributing to the willingness to telecommute or the lack thereof. The significance of this study stems from the fact that a better understanding of what influences the willingness to telecommute is a prerequisite for the successful promotion of the practice, and thus reaping its well researched benefits. Job suitability, delay experienced in the morning commute, and the increased usage of Smartphone technology were found to have a positive correlation with the willingness to telework, whereas car ownership, household size, and the negative perceptions towards teleworking were found to have a negative correlation

Factors influencing the stated preference of university employees towards telecommuting in International Islamic University Malaysia

The problem of traffic congestion, especially in metropolitan areas clearly indicates that congestion is steadily worsening. Surprisingly, this trend is also predominant in the major higher learning institutions in Malaysia. The increasing private vehicle use by International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) community (both staff and students) has contributed to increase in traffic volume and thus developing long queues and traffic disturbances along the major road particularly during peak hours. In this context, telecommuting is seen as one of the supporting options to reduce the level of congestion and parking demand oncampus. The purpose of this paper is to examine factors that influence the stated preference of employees towards telecommuting adoption in IIUM. A questionnaire survey was administered targeting both academic and administrative staff of the University. The questionnaire consists of four sections, which are demographic profile, travel behaviours, work characteristics and perceptions on various aspects of telecommuting. The findings showed that concept of telecommuting were widely accepted by the IIUM employees. Presence of children, travel distance, travel time, delay time and frequency of face-to-face communication were significant factors contributing the academic employees to telecommute. However, only presence of children and frequency of face-to-face communication were significant factors influencing the choice of administrative staff towards telecommuting

Stated preference approach towards the adoption of telecommuting in higher learning institution

Telecommuting is one of the Transportation Demand Management (TDM) measures to reduce peak hour traffic congestion. It allows commuters to work from home or a nearby telecommuting centre on certain days of the week. It is designed not only to help commuters to save their driving time to work, but more importantly to eliminate some vehicle trips. The purpose of this research is to investigate factors influencing the stated preference of the employees towards telecommuting adoption at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) and their perceptions on various aspects of telecommuting. The increasing number of staffs and students has contributed to the high number of private vehicles in IIUM. The increase in the private vehicle use by the IIUM community (staff and students) is inducing strain on the capacity of the existing roads and the related infrastructure. The existing traffic scenario in the IIUM has necessitated a study on the applicability of telecommuting as an alternative work arrangement. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the level of acceptance of the telecommuting adoption and look into the initiatives of implementing it at the institutions of higher educational campuses. This study in particular, was undertaken due to the benefits that it will bring to the employees, and to address the current traffic and parking problems. Three hundred respondents participated in this study through survey questionnaire. The questionnaire included demographic profile, trip characteristics, work characteristics and perceptions of telecommuting. Three principal hypotheses and ten sub-hypotheses highlighting the relationship between the preference to telecommute and the presence of young children, married females with children, commuted distance, travel time, delay time, length of service, as well as frequency of face-to-face communication were formulated. The data collected indicate that 20.2% and 26.9% of administrative and academic respondents were very familiar with telecommuting concept. The findings of this study also show 29% and 19.2% of the academic and administrative staff preferred to telecommute while 44% and 52.5% reported that they might consider adopting telecommuting, if they were given the option. Chi-square test, Kendall’s correlation coefficient and Cramer’s V were conducted to test the statistical significant relationships between the preference to telecommute and demographic, trip characteristics, work characteristics and perceptions on the aspects of telecommuting. The presence and the number of young children, frequency of face-to-face communication and frequency of using emails were found to be significant factors that contributed to the propensity towards telecommuting for both administrative and academic staff. Marital status, nationality, commuted distance, travel time, delay time, commute cost, allocation of time spent on research were significantly associated with the choice of telecommuting for academic employees. Given that the University does not have an official policy on telecommuting arrangement, some recommendations calling for the penetration of telecommuting in the IIUM were proposed. Such as, (i) establish formal policy of telecommuting arrangement in the university; (ii) provide monetary assistance for necessary equipment; (iii) implement a telecommuting pilot project and (iv) monitor employees’ productivity and quality of work through Key Performance Index (KPI) every half yearly

Modeling the effects of factors on the willingness of female employees to telecommute in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The concept of telecommuting is increasingly gaining attention in the Malaysian context as a means of both easing the worsening peak-hour traffic congestion, and retaining women in the workforce. Moreover, substantial evidence in the literature suggests that telecommuting is more suited to women who when compared to men, experience more work/non-work role conflict and more career interruptions (Schreiber, 1999). However, the incidence of actual telecommuting among female employees in Kuala Lumpur remains to be very limited. A survey of 454 women employed in the industries of financial intermediation, real estate, education and ICT in Kuala Lumpur, revealed that only 2% of the respondents were practicing telecommuters, and that more than a third (35%) of those who stated their ability to telecommute, were in fact unwilling to utilize that working arrangement if given the opportunity. The main aim of this study is to explore the factors contributing to the willingness to telecommute or the lack thereof. The significance of this study stems from the fact that a better understanding of what influences the willingness to telecommute is a prerequisite for the successful promotion of the practice, and thus reaping its well researched benefits. Job suitability, delay experienced in the morning commute, and the increased usage of Smartphone technology were found to have a positive correlation with the willingness to telework, whereas car ownership, household size, and the negative perceptions towards teleworking were found to have a negative correlation

Physicochemical characteristics and nutritional compositions of MR219 mutant rice and their effects on glycaemic responses in BALB/c mice

The awareness of the general public on healthy foods has been a major concern and people are looking for the right variety of rice for diabetic patients. High amylose content rice with low glycaemic index (GI), which is an indicator of sugar release in the blood, is beneficial for human health. The present work was aimed to determine the physicochemical characteristics and nutritional compositions of MR219 mutant rice, and the effects of amylose content to blood glucose response and glycaemic index in field condition. A total of 31 M4 mutant lines (ML1 to ML31) were evaluated for physicochemical characteristics and nutritional compositions in comparison with the parental variety, MR219. In glycaemic response study, 48 female BALB/c mice were fed with glucose (a baseline), saline water, two check varieties (MR219 and MRQ74) and four selected mutant lines with different amylose contents. The physicochemical and proximate analysis revealed highly significant differences among the mutant lines. Some mutant lines improved amylose content and nutritional composition. Mutant ML3 had slightly higher amylose content than the parental variety and was recommended for glycaemic responses. However, the field experiment results showed two mutant lines namely; ML3 and ML30, having significantly lower glucose reading (5.49 mmol/L and 5.47 mmol/L, respectively) as compared to the parental variety and other mutant lines. The glucose level was found highest at 60 min after feeding but significantly dropped at 120 min. The normal glucose reading in ML3 and ML30 also resulted in moderate GI values (65% and 66%, respectively). As low and moderate GI foods are recommended for diabetic patients, ML3 and ML30 had high potential for their consumption, and can be suggested for further breeding program to develop low GI rice

Self-care skills between institutionalised and home dwelling older adults: a preliminary study

Self-care is defined as activities performed by individuals, families, and communities to enhance their health, prevent diseases, limit illnesses, and restore health. Previous research has mainly focused on self-care skills of older adults in either institution or residential homes separately but limited studies have compared between both these settings. This study aimed to compare the self-care skills between institutionalised and home dwelling older adults at selected area in Malaysia. A total of 43 participants aged 60 years old and above were recruited in our study; (23 participants were home-dwelled older adults and 19 participants were recruited from institutionalised older adults located in Kuala Lumpur). The Malay Version of Performance Assessment of Self-Care Skills (M-PASS-HOME) 4.0 was used focusing on four main subtests of self-skills; oral hygiene, trimming toenails, house mobility and shower mobility. The differences in self-care skills between institutionalised and home dwelling older adults are statistically significant (p<0.01) in the aspects of independency for all self-care activities. The results of this study revealed that home dwelling older adults group are more independent in self-care activities of oral hygiene, trimming toenails, house mobility and shower mobility compared to institutionalised group

Challenges in coupled on-line-on-mine-real time mineralogical and chemical analyses on drill cores

The SOLSA project aims to develop an innovative on-line-on-mine-real-time expert system, combining sonic drilling, mineralogical and chemical characterization and data treatment. Ideally, this combination, highly demanded by mining and metallurgical companies, will speed up exploration, mining and processing. In order to evaluate the instrumental parameters for the SOLSA expert system, portable and laboratory analyses have been performed on four samples with contrasting lithologies: siliceous breccia, serpentinized harzburgite, sandstone and granite. More precisely, we evaluated the influence of the surface state of the sample on the signals obtained by portable X-Ray Fluorescence (pXRF) for chemistry and portable Infra-Red spectroscopy (pIR) for mineralogy. In addition, laboratory Raman spectroscopy, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), XRF and ICP-OES laboratory analyses were performed to compare surface bulk mineralogical and chemical analyses. This presentation highlights (1) the importance of coupling chemical and mineralogical analytical technologies to obtain most complete information on samples, (2) the effect of the sample surface state on the XRF and IR signals from portable instruments. The last point is crucial for combined instrumental on-line sensor design and the calibration of the different instruments, especially in the case of pXRF