CULTURAL TOURISM AS A WAY FORWARD – A CRITICAL EVALUATION OF TOP-DOWN TOURISM MANAGEMENT IN MALAYSIA

Malaysia is one of the fastest-growing developing nations in Southeast Asia. Over the years, the management of tourism at the federal government level underwent several major revamps. The current Ministry of Tourism and Culture has been in force since May 2013, with different departments and agencies managing museums, tourism, cultural heritage, and the arts. Despite the seemingly good economic contribution of tourism to Malaysia’s economy, its performance is actually pale in comparison to its two closest neighbors – Singapore and Thailand. This paper seeks to critically evaluate the current top-down tourism management in Malaysia, specifically in terms of its organizational structure and management processes. The extended marketing mix by Booms and Bitner is adopted as the framework for discussions. Three key findings were identified from the twofold qualitative research. First, MOTAC needs to enhance visitors’ experience of its Malaysia Tourism Centre through improving the center’s facilities, as well as incorporating digital technologies. Next, there is a lack of cultural diversity and motivations within MOTAC. Finally, cultural tourism could be a way forward to elevate Malaysia’s tourism to the next level

Impact of Social Networking Sites on Hospitality and Tourism Industry

This research paper investigates the impact of social networking sites on the hospitality and tourism industries A social networking site is a type of social media that provides a platform for people to connect with each other Social networking is so versatile that it can be used for both leisure and business purposes In the hospitality and tourism industry social networking sites are one of the essential tools that play an important and beneficial role Content on social networking sites could affect the marketing in both positive and negative ways The topic that will be discussed in this research paper are consumer behavior connection with consumers effectiveness in terms of time and cost creating brand awareness and building the image of the company promoting company targeting consumers and finally the disadvantage

Building A Semantic-Primitive-Based Lexical Consultation System.

The paper describes the design of semantic primitive-based lexical consultation system and the possible processes which will be performed on a machine-readable dictionary (MRD) and corpus to produce a machine-tractable dictionary

A Constraint Programming Approach for Non-Preemptive Evacuation Scheduling

Large-scale controlled evacuations require emergency services to select evacuation routes, decide departure times, and mobilize resources to issue orders, all under strict time constraints. Existing algorithms almost always allow for preemptive evacuation schedules, which are less desirable in practice. This paper proposes, for the first time, a constraint-based scheduling model that optimizes the evacuation flow rate (number of vehicles sent at regular time intervals) and evacuation phasing of widely populated areas, while ensuring a nonpreemptive evacuation for each residential zone. Two optimization objectives are considered: (1) to maximize the number of evacuees reaching safety and (2) to minimize the overall duration of the evacuation. Preliminary results on a set of real-world instances show that the approach can produce, within a few seconds, a non-preemptive evacuation schedule which is either optimal or at most 6% away of the optimal preemptive solution.Comment: Submitted to the 21st International Conference on Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming (CP 2015). 15 pages + 1 reference pag

Effect of phacoemulsification on facility of outflow

PURPOSE: Phacoemulsification has been shown to reduce intraocular pressure (IOP). The mechanism of action is thought to be via increased trabecular outflow facility. However, studies on the relationship between phacoemulsification and outflow facility have been inconsistent. This study intended to examine the change in electronic Schiotz tonographic outflow facility (TOF) and IOP measurements following phacoemulsification. METHODS: Patients who were due to undergo a standard clear corneal incision phacoemulsification with intraocular lens (IOL) implantation, at St Thomas' Hospital, were invited to participate in this study. IOP was measured using Goldmann's applanation tonometer, and TOF was measured by electronic Schiotz tonography at baseline and at 3, 6 and 12 months postoperatively. RESULTS: Forty-one patients were recruited. Tonography data for 27 patients were reliable and available at all time points. Eleven cases had primary open angle glaucoma and cataract, while 16 patients had cataract only. Mean IOP reduced at every time point postoperatively significantly compared with baseline. TOF improved significantly after cataract extraction at all time points (baseline of 0.14±0.06 vs 0.18±0.09 at 3 months, P=0.02 and 0.20±0.09 at 6 months, P=0.003, 0.17±0.07 µL/min mmHg at 12 months, P=0.04). Five contralateral eyes of patients with cataracts only who did not have any intraocular surgery during the follow-up period were used as comparison. Their IOP and TOF did not change significantly at any postoperative visits. CONCLUSION: This is the first study using electronic Schiotz tonography with documented anterior chamber depth and gonioscopy after modern cataract surgery (CS) with phacoemulsification and IOL implantation. We demonstrated that phacoemulsification increases TOF and this fully accounts for the IOP reduction following CS. ISTCRN REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN04247738

Prevalence of Severe Anxiety among Elective Caesarean Section Mothers and their Perceived Complications of Anaesthesia in Malaysia

Introduction: Many women experience psychological problems during pregnancy. One of the major psychological problems is anxiety. Pregnancy related anxiety can lead to various negative effects not only on mother’s health, but also on their socio-dynamic factors as well as the infant’s development. Preoperative anxiety among obstetric patients is known to be much higher compared to other surgical patients. Aim: In this study we assessed the prevalence of severe anxiety among elective caesarean section mothers and their perceived complications of anaesthesia in Malaysia. Method: This study was conducted among 280 pregnant women in the obstetrics and gynaecology department in a tertiary hospital in Malaysia. The pregnant women’s level of anxiety was assessed using the 20-item S-anxiety scale, preoperative and postoperative. Results: Pre-operative, out of the 280 respondents, 70 (25%) were classified as having severe anxiety. Among those with previous SVD, 41.7% had severe level of anxiety compared to only 21.2% among those with previous LSCS (p=0.008). At post-operative assessment, 27 (9.6%) were classified as having severe anxiety. Overall, there was a significant reduction in the level of anxiety from pre to post operative (p <0.001). The perceived complications from general anaesthesia were death (34.3%), coma (32.1%) and postoperative pain (30%) and the perceived complications from regional anaesthesia were back pain (27.9%) and paralysis (27.9%). Conclusion: Preoperative anxiety in women undergoing caesarean section is high. Preoperative anxiety should be evaluated for further planning of coping strategies to overcome their anxiety and fear

COORDINATIVE PATTERNS BETWEEN CARVING TURN AND SKIDDING TURN DURING ALPINE SKIING

The purpose of this study was to investigate the coordinative patterns between segments and ski using the continuous relative phase (CRP) on anteroposterior and vertical axis during carving and skidding turn. Fourteen alpine ski instructors were participated in this study. Eight inertial measurement units were used to collect segment kinematic data. Each skier was asked to perform ten carving turns and ten skidding turns on the groomed 15° slope, respectively. CRP angles between all segments and ski were significantly increased during carving turn on the vertical axis. On the other hand, CRP angles between all segments and ski were significantly increased during skidding turn on anteroposterior axis. Therefore, skiers should perform the anti-phase movements of the lower spine-ski, pelvis-ski, thigh-ski and shank-ski on the vertical axis during the carving turn and the in-phase movements of the lower spine-ski, pelvis-ski, thigh-ski and shank-ski on the anteroposterior axis during skidding turn

Intention of Tax Non-Compliance-Examine the Gaps

Abstract This paper is to provide a literature review on factors that affect the intention of tax non-compliance behaviour among the sole-proprietors. The review of literature is to examine the issues involved in the area of tax non-compliances and identify the gaps on tax non-compliance behaviour

Cryptosporidiosis among birds and bird handlers at Zoo

Abstract. This study was carried out at the Malaysian National Zoo to ascertain, not only the current prevalence rate in the birds, but also to determine the association between cryptosporidiosis in birds and the bird handlers. A total of 116 fecal samples from 71 species of birds were collected from six different locations in Zoo Negara, and eight fecal samples from bird handlers were also sampled. Results showed that the prevalence of Cryptosporidium oocysts in birds and bird handlers were 3.4% and 12.5%, respectively. The birds that were positive for cryptosporidiosis were Wreathed Hornbill (Aceros undulatus) and Great Currasow (Crax rubra) from the aviary, Bushy-crested Hornbill (Anorrhinus galeritus) from the bird house, and the Common Peafowl (Pavo cristatus) from the lake. Birds at the lake showed the highest percentage (12.5%) of positivity, followed by birds at the aviary (5.4%) and the birdhouse (2.8%). Result of the present study seemed to indicate that cryptosporidiosis might be spreading to other species of birds and to other locations in the zoo, which was not previously documented. This study also suggested the probable association of cryptosporidiosis among birds and their bird handlers. However, conclusions can only be drawn after the confirmation of speciation found in birds and bird handlers through molecular identification

Evidence for a pervasive 'idling-mode' activity template in flying and pedestrian insects

This is the final version. Available on open access from the Royal Society via the DOI in this recordUnderstanding the complex movement patterns of animals in natural environments is a key objective of 'movement ecology'. Complexity results from behavioural responses to external stimuli but can also arise spontaneously in their absence. Drawing on theoretical arguments about decision-making circuitry, we predict that the spontaneous patterns will be scale-free and universal, being independent of taxon and mode of locomotion. To test this hypothesis, we examined the activity patterns of the European honeybee, and multiple species of noctuid moth, tethered to flight mills and exposed to minimal external cues. We also reanalysed pre-existing data for Drosophila flies walking in featureless environments. Across these species, we found evidence of common scale-invariant properties in their movement patterns; pause and movement durations were typically power law distributed over a range of scales and characterized by exponents close to 3/2. Our analyses are suggestive of the presence of a pervasive scale-invariant template for locomotion which, when acted on by environmental cues, produces the movements with characteristic scales observed in nature. Our results indicate that scale-finite complexity as embodied, for instance, in correlated random walk models, may be the result of environmental cues overriding innate behaviour, and that scale-free movements may be intrinsic and not limited to 'blind' foragers as previously thought.Rothamsted research receives grant aided support from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. S.W. was funded jointly by a grant from BBSRC, Defra, NERC, the Scottish Government and the Wellcome Trust, under the Insect Pollinators Initiative (grant nos. BB/I00097/1). A.J.P. was funded by a BBSRC Doctoral Training Partnership in Food Security awarded to K.W. and J.W.C. H.B.C.J. was funded by a BBSRC Quota studentship awarded to J.W.C. and J.K.