Abandoned housing development : the Malaysian experience

The issue of abandoned housing project is a matter of grave importance in Malaysia. This study sought to identify the causes leading to the problem from the view point of neo-classical and institutional economic analysis. Having that aim in mind, the research focused on reviewing available literature on the applicability of neo-classical and institutional theories in land and property market analysis, understanding the abandoned housing projects, identifying institution affecting housing development in Malaysia, examining the role of market signal, identifying the causes of abandoned housing projects and recommending suitable policies to prevent and solve the problem of abandoned projects. Extensive field work was done in order to collect primary data for the study. Surveys and semi-structured interviews were done using sample study areas which comprises of 6 different states in Malaysia. The respondents in this study are sample from the population of private developers. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that the cause of abandonment of housing projects relates to institutional factors and failure to respond appropriately to market signal

Examining of issues on flood disaster management in Malaysia

Flooding in Malaysia has made various impacts to the victims in terms of damage to property and loss of life.Besides that, the victims also suffer after flood disaster occur.Because of that, the purpose of this paper is to describe the issues and problem of disaster relief management provided by government to the victims in Malaysia for phases during and post-disaster caused by flooding.Presently, the disaster management in Malaysia including flood almost based on top-down approach that was predominantly an official strategy from Directive No. 20 by National Security Council of Malaysia.These instructions outline has set the role and responsibilities of the agencies involved and also covers the action of monitoring the activities in disaster management.Therefore, this paper presents findings from the literature review by previous research in this topic.The result show that, in Malaysia, a study concerning the evaluation of the effectiveness policy implementation at levels during and post-disaster that affect the flood victims were poorly implemented.Further to that, this paper will attempt to describe the issues of disaster relief management for phases during and post-disaster that has been criticized by previous researchers

The motivation factors in the provision of green criteria in green building development

Recently, green building has become globally vital especially in developed country such as United State, Europe, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Singapore.The Malaysian construction industry identified the necessity of green rating tool to improve building development in tropical climate. The Green Building Index (GBI) is Malaysia’s industry recognised green rating tool for buildings to promote sustainability in the built environment and raise awareness of these issues among relevant stakeholders such as developers, architects, and contractors.This paper highlights motivation factors versus common criteria of green building in the provision of green building development.The assessment of commercial and residential properties under the GBI rating tool is based on six main criteria: energy efficiency, indoor environment quality, sustainable site planning and management, materials and resources, water efficiency and innovation.The data presented in this paper are mainly derived responses to a questionnaire that were completed by architects, engineers, urban planner, contractors and builders, developers and other consultants who is involved in green building development. For analysis, a statistical methods are used with Average Index portray the results. Accordingly, organisational motivation, social motivation, environmental motivation and economic motivation influenced the provision of green criteria.This paper finding leads the developer in decision making for common provision of green criteria in green building development

Impak bencana banjir terhadap industri: Kes kajian di Kedah

Bencana banjir yang melanda boleh mengakibatkan impak yang besar terhadap komuniti, hartabenda serta impak yang signifikan terhadap industri. Justeru, kajian impak terhadap industri wajar dilaksanakan untuk mengenalpasti apakah impak yang ditanggung oleh pihak industri bilamana banjir melanda. Bagi maksud kertas kerja ini, metodologi kajian terhadap industri dibincangkan. Kajian ini berasaskan survei yang telah dijalankan terhadap 10 industri di daerah Kubang Pasu Kedah. Kawasan kajian merupakan kawasan perusahaan yang terlibat secara langsung ketika banjir berlaku. Selain itu, kawasan perindustrian Bukit Kayu Hitam iaitu kawasan perindustrian KEDA Napoh dan kedai-kedai sekitar Changlun juga turut dijadikan kawasan kajian. Selain survei, pendekatan temubual secara bersemuka bersama pegawai di peringkat pengurusan dan pentadbiran turut dijalankan bagi mengukuhkan dapatan kajian terhadap impak yang ditanggung oleh pihak industri akibat banjir. Selain itu, pendekatan kajian turut membantu pasukan penyelidik untuk mendapatkan cadangan-cadangan yang bersesuai dari perspektif pihak iindustri bagi tujuan mengurangkan impak banjir terhadap industri. Hasil kajian mendapati terdapat beberapa faktor yang telah menjejaskan operasi pengeluaran industri seperti pekerja tidak dapat datang bekerja, penghantaran produk terjejas, kilang dimasuki air, bekalan elektrik dan air terputus, dan penerimaan barang mentah terputus. Pemilik industri juga terpaksa menanggung segala kerugian yang dialami disebabkan tidak dapat beroperasi selama beberapa hari dan menanggung segala kos kerosakan dan pembaikan yang terlibat semasa bencana banjir. Manakala dari aspek punca berlakunya banjir bagi kawasan perindustrian adalah disebabkan oleh sistem pengaliran yang tidak terurus

Leadership development and sustainable leadership among TVET student

Leadership has become a key component of an organization, management and administration of educational organizations and systems, and this development is reflected in both academic and educational policy statements throughout the English-speaking countries and world over. Governments are investing substantial sums in leadership development because they believe that it will produce better leaders and more effective school system. Individuals are also contributing their own professional development because they think that it will enhance their career prospects and make them better leaders. Without leadership, things will be very difficult and we would have not been here today. Technical and vocational education is one of the organizations that have been enjoying leadership of different types. The importance of leadership in technical and vocational education cannot be overemphasizing, because without proper leadership in TVET programs, the goals which are to prepare people to be self-reliance will not be possible. Therefore, the need for good and perfect leadership has become imperative in TVET development. Effective school leadership has become a dominant theme in contemporary educational reform. Effective leaders are needed to sustain innovation and are the heart of capacity building for school improvement most especially in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) programs that need sustainability for its development

Sistem pengurusan bencana di Malaysia: Kajian kes banjir

Tujuan kertas kerja ini dihasilkan ialah untuk membincangkan isu berkaitan sistem penyampaian bantuan oleh pihak berkuasa terhadap mangsa banjir di Malaysia. Sistem pengurusan bencana negara yang ditadbir urus oleh Majlis Keselamatan Negara (MKN). Kejadian bencana banjir di Kedah digunakan sebagai kajian kes untuk menentukan kecekapan sistem pengurusan bencana. Justeru pengalaman dan pandangan mangsa banjir di 12 daerah di negeri Kedah dengan sample kajian seramai 534 keluarga mangsa banjir daripada populasi kajian 3,674 keluarga mangsa banjir (atau 15 peratus daripada populasi kajian) telah diperolehi melalui survei dan temubual kumpulan sasaran (TKS) secara bersemuka dengan mangsa banjir untuk menilai sistem penyampaian bantuan yang dipratikan oleh pihak berkuasa apabila berlaku bencana. Berdasarkan penganalisisan yang dijalankan, dapatan kajian menunjukan bahawa mangsa banjir berpuashati terhadap keseluruhan sistem penyampaian bantuan yang dilaksanakan oleh pihak berkuasa

Carbon-based Nanomaterials for Energy Storage and Sensing Applications

This chapter reviews carbon-based nanomaterials and their potential applications in energy storage and sensing. Several methods of synthesizing carbon nanomaterials have been developed over the years. They include exfoliation, thermal decomposition, chemical vapor deposition, chemical-based techniques (including Hummer’s method), laser abrasion, and arc-discharge method. There are several synthesis methods developed over the years for carbon nanomaterials. There are mainly three different approaches to the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique, namely, atmospheric pressure CVD, low pressure CVD, and plasma enhanced CVD (e.g., microwave plasma enhanced CVD). Chemical-based techniques are the chemical extraction of graphene films from graphite, unlike the liquid phase exfoliation technique. Laser ablation relies on the laser exfoliation or ablation of amorphous graphite, and is sometimes called pulsed laser deposition. In the field of materials science, electrochemical energy storage has become a big challenge due to the rising need for portable electronic devices and systems

Komitmen organisasi, kepuasan kerja dan prestasi kerja dalam kalangan pensyarah universiti di Kota Batam Indonesia

Universiti adalah salah satu tempat bagi meningkatkan kualiti sumber manusia. Pembangunan pendidikan dalam peringkat universiti di Kota Batam khususnya telah melibatkan pelbagai pihak iaitu pensyarah, universiti, masyarakat serta pelbagai organisasi pendidikan lain. Pencapaian prestasi sebuah universiti merangkumi prestasi para pensyarah mahupun pihak pentadbir yang terdapat di universiti dan menjadi penting untuk diperhatikan. Kurangnya kajian mengenai komitmen, kepuasan kerja dan prestasi kerja dalam kalangan pensyarah di peringkat Universiti. Kajian yang ada biasa ianya dilakukan di sektor syarikat sahaja, sehingga kajian ini perlu dilakukan dalam kalangan pensyarah di peringkat universiti. Objektif dalam kajian ini bagi memastikan hubungan dan sumbangan komitmen organisasi, kepuasan kerja dan prestasi kerja pensyarah. Data dikumpul menggunakan instrumen soal selidik melibatkan sampel kajian seramai 179 orang pensyarah universiti di bandar Batam, Indonesia iaitu Universiti Putera Batam, Universiti Batam dan Universiti Riau Kepulauan. Data-data kajian dianalisis menggunakan SPSS. Hasil kajian didapati bahawa, komitmen dan prestasi kerja, komitmen dan kepuasan kerja, kepuasan kerja dan prestasi kerja, komitmen dan kepuasan kerja terhadap prestasi kerja mempunyai hubungan positif dan signifikan. Hasil dapatan kajian dapat digunapakai sebagai acuan bagi keperluan institusi, akademisi, dan praktisi dalam membuat standar evauasi. Selain itu, bagi pihak universiti ianya perlu mengambil kira hubungan komitmen organisasi dan kepuasan kerja, kepuasan kerja dan prestasi kerja, serta komitmen organisasi dan prestasi kerja. Selain itu perlu pula mengambil kira hubungan komitmen organisasi dan kepuasan kerja terhadap prestasi kerja, dan faktor lain diluar kajian yang dijalankan seperti faktor demografi, kepengurusan, kepimpinan, budaya organisasi dan lain-lain