Kesan terhadap peserta yang mengikuti projek ICT di luar bandar

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of rural ICT projects established and managed by various government and non-government organizations on the knowledge and skills of project participants. Data were collected through personal interview involving 1250 respondents from all states in Malaysia. Generally, the respondents admitted that they had gained computer knowledge and skills after participating in the programs organized by the rural ICT project centre. It was found that 77.1% of the respondents said that they now know how to use computer after going through the program in their locality. Likewise, almost two third of the respondents said that they now know how to use the internet after going through the program organized by the rural ICT project centre. The results also showed that most respondents had an increase on knowledge concerning hardware, software and selected application. Thus, rural ICT project centres need to be further strengthened in providing services because the respondents stated that the centres had brought positive impact with regard to computer knowledge and skills

Faktor kejayaan dan kegagalan projek ICT di luar bandar

The success and failure of ICT projects depends on how the relevant agency set the strategy to attract the local community to use the facility. The purpose of this paper is to identify factors that contributing to the success and failure of such project. This research is based on Technology Acceptance Model. The study involved 60 supervisors, 1250 participants and 716 non-participant of the rural ICT projects were interviewed to get their information regarding the issue. It was found that among the supervisors, they said that equipment is crucial for the success of rural ICT projects, followed by management, finance and support services. However, among the project participants, they mentioned that management as the important factor for the success of rural ICT projects, followed by equipment, finance and programs. With regard to factors that may lead to project failure, the supervisors identified equipment as the major factor, followed by finance, management and support services. Nevertheless, the project participants said that finance as an important factor to the failure of rural ICT projects, followed by equipment, management and support services. Thus, it can be said that there are not much different among the supervisors and the project participants in relation to the factors that contribute to the success or failure of rural ICT projects

Shariah governance framework for Islamic co-operatives as an integral social insitution in Malaysia

In Malaysia, Islamic cooperatives are recognized as providers of some form of Islamic financial service similar to Islamic Banks and Takaful Operators. An Islamic Co-operative refers to a co-operative conducting activities and businesses based on Shariah principles. Being a non-banking financial institution, its main objective is to enhance social economic welfare of its members. As a form of captive social institution, it enables the less economically privileged members of society to pool resources as a cooperative. Malaysia is spearheading the Islamic banking and finance industry globally by having in place a proper and well-designed legal and regulatory framework for Islamic Financial Institutions, which includes the area of Shariah governance. However, the Shariah governance framework for the Islamic Co-operative in Malaysia is still in its infancy stage. In this paper, this area will be given focus and properly highlighted. Later, comparison will be made with the Shariah governance framework for the Islamic financial institutions. This paper will conclude that the requirements with regard to Shariah governance for the Islamic Co-operative are flexible and not as strict as required for the Islamic financial institutions

Physicochemical properties associated with the presence of Burkholderia pseudomallei in small ruminant farm water supplies in Peninsular Malaysia

Burkholderia pseudomallei causes melioidosis, a life-threatening infection in both humans and animals. Water is an important reservoir of the bacteria and may serve as a source of environmental contamination leading to infection. B. pseudomallei has an unusual ability to survive in water for a long period. This paper investigates physicochemical properties of water associated with the presence of B. pseudomallei in water supply in small ruminant farms in Peninsular Malaysia. Physicochemical properties of water samples taken from small ruminant farms that included temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen (DO2), optical density (OD), and chemical oxygen demand (COD) were measured after which the samples were cultured for B. pseudomallei. Multivariable logistic regression model revealed that slightly acidic water pH and higher COD level were significantly associated with the likelihood of the B. pseudomallei presence in the water

E-community system towards first class mentality development: an infrastructure requirements analysis

E-Community portal can be classifed as an extension of normal type of knowledge management system (KMS) development towards first class mentality. It servers varities of expects in term of capabilities and services especially for the benefits of community. Most of the community today are looking on this matter as a very important issue and try to search the best way to manage or organize this community system for sustain a high rate of continuous improvement. While e-community system (ECS) or portal is a system that related to the process of knowledge capture, re-use, searching and representation to the user in a variety of form. The role of system could be determined by looking on the issues on how knowledge can be applied at the right time in the faster ways that based on the simplest command or agent given to the system in order to get the relevant knowledge from the portal. Besides that, system also could be looked on how the best element of infrastructure requirement could be used for, in the benefits of users in order to stored and captured as well as presenting the knowledge portal. The paper presents the analysis of the ECS infrastructure requirement, and its system implementation in a community of practise (CoP) especially towards first class mentality development as well as discussing a variety issues that related to its involvement, so that it will help CoPs to increase their productivity and quality as well as to gain return on investment (ROI)

Phylogenetic diversity of Burkholderia pseudomallei isolated from veterinary cases and the environments in Peninsular Malaysia

This study was designed to determine the genotype and the phylogeny of Burkholderia pseudomallei isolated from veterinary cases and from the animal environments in Peninsular Malaysia. The Malaysian B. pseudomallei population were then compared to those found elsewhere. A total of 113 isolates from veterinary cases (35) and the environment (56 from soil and 22 from water) were characterized using multilocus sequence typing (MLST). Two novel alleles, allele 97 and 69 of the gene locus ace and lepA respectively were recovered. Isolates were resolved into 12 distinct sequence types (STs) out of which five were novel, namely ST1130, ST1131, ST1338, ST1339 and ST1367. The isolates from veterinary cases co-clustered with those from the environment. B. pseudomallei isolates in this study were highly clonal and have descended from a common ancestor clonal complex (CC) 48 found in Southeast Asia. This study shows that veterinary case isolates are often caused by similar STs, with similar populations found in the direct animal environment and those previously reported to cause human infections in Malaysia and elsewhere. Isolates of B. pseudomallei from human infections have been given more attention, with a comparatively lower focus on isolates from animals and the farm environment. This study highlighted the genotype and phylogeny of B. pseudomallei isolated from animals and the environment and their relations to the isolates from human cases reported in Malaysia and elsewhere. Most STs reported in this study, from veterinary cases and animal environment are similar to those previously reported as causing human infections in Malaysia and elsewhere. Therefore, even though direct zoonosis is uncommon, monitoring melioidosis occurrences in animals can provide insights on the bacterial strains infecting humans

Effectiveness of HIV/AIDS educational intervention in increasing knowledge, attitude and practices for primary school teachers in some part of Africa

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is virus that weakens the immune system of the body through destruction of the white blood cells. Whereas, AIDS term as; acquired immune deficiency syndrome is a disease due to the infection of HIV. Knowledge of health, and practices among teachers of primary school are scanty. Studies indicated that few teachers have heard or even became aware that HIV/AIDS is a viral infectious, and some of them lacked the knowledge about its mode of transmission with low attitudinal behaviours. Thus, this review paper discusses some health promotion measures and relevant information regarding, how the use of educational intervention in primary school teachers, could help in reducing the incidence cases of HIV/AIDS in Africa. We therefore recommend effective educational intervention programmes should be set for primary school teachers, in order that the teachers and the students could have a sound knowledge of health practices that will change their attitude which in turn reduce the risk of HIV/AIDS transmission

Enhancement of complex permittivity and attenuation properties of activated carbon derived from oil palm fruit fiber for microwave application

This study aimed to synthesize activated carbon (AC) from empty oil palm fruit bunch (OPEFB) fiber to enhance its complex permittivity properties by modifying the particle size and surface area via physical activation. Sample characterizations of complex permittivity were conducted using open-ended coaxial technique and a vector network analyzer. The absorption properties were analyzed using the finite element method (FEM) simulations of the transmission coefficients and the distribution of electric fields via the microstrip models. Simulations and measurements were all carried out within the range 8–12 GHz. The initial surface area of the unactivated sample was 4.02, after 700, 750, and 800 °C activation, 730.40, 814.00, and 927.01 m2/g was obtained respectively. With increased surface area, the dielectric constant and loss factor values increased and attained maximum values of 6.13 and 0.83 at 8 GHz, respectively from initial values of 3.63 and 0.52, as the surface area increased from 4.02 to 927.01 m2/g. The improved absorption properties displayed by the AC in the simulations demonstrated their capacity to attenuate X-band microwaves

Detection of Helicobacter pylori oipA and dupA genes among dyspeptic patients with chronic gastritis

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori): is a microbe with wide genetic diversity that infects the stomach of most people in developing countries, leading to several clinical outcomes among different individuals such as gastritis, ulcers, or gastric cancer. Outer inflammatory protein A (oipA) and duodenal ulcer promoting (dupA) genes are among the possible virulence factors which determine the patient outcome. Aim: To detect oipA and dupA genes of H. pylori among dyspeptic Egyptian patients, and to investigate their correlation with the varying degrees of the associated chronic gastritis. Methods: The study enrolled 50 patients with dyspepsia, attending the Gastrointestinal Endoscopy unit of the Gastroenterology and Tropical Departments at Ain Shams University Hospital for upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, in the period between, June and, December 2019. Four antral gastric biopsies were taken from each patient for polymerase chain reaction assay to detect the virulence genes oipA, dupA, and cagA and for histopathological assessment. Results: Forty patients were H. pylori positive by histopathology and PCR. cagA, oipA, and dupA were identified in 6 (15%), 13 (32.5%), 9 (22.5%) of biopsies, respectively. Both cagA and oipA genes were highly significantly associated with increasing the severity of gastritis. Only oipA virulence gene showed a highly significant association with gastroduodenitis. There was a highly significant moderate association between cagA and oipA genes. Conclusion: oipA could be a virulence biomarker that serves a great value in predicting the progress of gastric mucosal damage in patients with chronic gastritis, and targeting antimicrobial therapy in those patients to prevent severe gastroduodenal diseases