The Impact of Equal Employment Opportunity-Affirmative Action in U.S. and New Economic Policy in Malaysia on Employment and Reverse Discrimination

Penggubalan polisi Equal Employment Opportunity-Affirmative Action (EEO-AA) bertujuan memastikan wujud keseimbangan peluang pekerjaan di antara kaum majoriti dan minoriti di Amerika Syarikat. Di Malaysia pula, Dasar Ekonomi Baru (DEB)diwujudkan bagi menyeimbangkan status ekonomi di antara pelbagai etnik. Kajian ini pertamanya bertujuan untuk menganalisis sejauhmana EEO-AA dan DEB dapat mencapai matlamat untuk menyeimbangkan peluang pekerjaan di Amerika Syarikat dan juga status ekonomi antara etnik di Malaysia. Keduanya, untuk menganalisis sama ada EEO-AA dan DEB ini menyebabkan berlakunya “reverse discrimination”. Hasil kajian mendapati EEO-AA hanya memberi impak yang kecil kepada golongan minoriti di Amerika Syarikat. Di Malaysia pula, DEB telah berjaya meningkatkan jumlah partisipasi Bumiputera di dalam pelbagai sektor. Manakala kedua-dua polisi tidak menyebabkan berlakunya “reverse discrimination”

A Profile Analysis of Potential Investors in Ireit Waqf Investment Products

The objective of this study is to provide a profile analysis of potential investors in iREIT as an instrument for waqf asset development. By adopting a survey questionnaire approach, a total of 365 respondents participated in the survey, which assessed information pertaining to the understanding of iREIT as an investment instrument, level of acceptance towards the idea of its introduction in the context of waqf, the medium of promotion and collection that they most prefer, the suitable price, and the unique features that they agreed to have in this hybrid iREIT. The results suggest that majority of the respondents are interested to participate as investors rather than donors, indicating that greater amount of funds can be tapped from the issuance of the iREITs waqf if these preferences of the investors are given priority. Findings of this study would assist in the formulation of an innovative investment structure based on iREIT waqf that is both practical and appealing to the widest pool of investors, and further contribute towards the development of the waqf sector.     Keywords: Waqf, iREITs, investment, profiling, Islamic financ

Multifaceted roles of GSK-3 and Wnt/β-catenin in hematopoiesis and leukemogenesis: opportunities for therapeutic intervention

Glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) is well documented to participate in a complex array of critical cellular processes. It was initially identified in rat skeletal muscle as a serine/threonine kinase that phosphorylated and inactivated glycogen synthase. This versatile protein is involved in numerous signaling pathways that influence metabolism, embryogenesis, differentiation, migration, cell cycle progression and survival. Recently, GSK-3 has been implicated in leukemia stem cell pathophysiology and may be an appropriate target for its eradication. In this review, we will discuss the roles that GSK-3 plays in hematopoiesis and leukemogenesis as how this pivotal kinase can interact with multiple signaling pathways such as: Wnt/β-catenin, phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN)/Akt/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), Ras/Raf/MEK/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), Notch and others. Moreover, we will discuss how targeting GSK-3 and these other pathways can improve leukemia therapy and may overcome therapeutic resistance. In summary, GSK-3 is a crucial regulatory kinase interacting with multiple pathways to control various physiological processes, as well as leukemia stem cells, leukemia progression and therapeutic resistance. GSK-3 and Wnt are clearly intriguing therapeutic targets

The barriers and causes of building information modelling usage for interior design industry

Building Information Modeling (BIM) has since developed alongside the improvement in the construction industry, purposely to simulate the design, management, construction and documentation. It facilitates and monitors the construction through visualization and emphasizes on various inputs to virtually design and construct a building using specific software. This study aims to identify and elaborate barriers of BIM usage in interior design industry in Malaysia. This study is initiated with a pilot survey utilising sixteen respondents that has been randomly chosen. Respondents are attached with interior design firms that are registered by Lembaga Arkitek Malaysia (LAM). The research findings are expected to provide significant information to encourage BIM adoption among interior design firms

Control of Glycogen Content in Retina: Allosteric Regulation of Glycogen Synthase

Retinal tissue is exceptional because it shows a high level of energy metabolism. Glycogen content represents the only energy reserve in retina, but its levels are limited. Therefore, elucidation of the mechanisms controlling glycogen content in retina will allow us to understand retina response under local energy demands that can occur under normal and pathological conditions. Thus, we studied retina glycogen levels under different experimental conditions and correlated them with glucose-6-phosphate (G-6-P) content and glycogen synthase (GS) activity

The Development of a Point of Care Clinical Guidelines Mobile Application Following a User-Centred Design Approach

This paper describes the development of a point of care clinical guidelines mobile application. A user-centred design approach was utilised to inform the design of a smartphone application, this included: Observations; a survey; focus groups and an analysis of popular apps utilised by clinicians in a UK NHS Trust. Usability testing was conducted to inform iterations of the application, which presents clinicians with a variety of integrated tools to aid in decision making and information retrieval. The study found that clinicians use a mixture of technology to retrieve information, which is often inefficient or has poor usability. It also shows that smartphone application development for use in UK hospitals needs to consider the variety of users and their clinical knowledge and work pattern. This study highlights the need for applying user-centred design methods in the design of information presented to clinicians and the need for clinical information delivery that is efficient and easy to use at the bedside

Consumer input into research: the Australian Cancer Trials website

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Australian Cancer Trials website (ACTO) was publicly launched in 2010 to help people search for cancer clinical trials recruiting in Australia, provide information about clinical trials and assist with doctor-patient communication about trials. We describe consumer involvement in the design and development of ACTO and report our preliminary patient evaluation of the website.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Consumers, led by Cancer Voices NSW, provided the impetus to develop the website. Consumer representative groups were consulted by the research team during the design and development of ACTO which combines a search engine, trial details, general information about trial participation and question prompt lists. Website use was analysed. A patient evaluation questionnaire was completed at one hospital, one week after exposure to the website.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>ACTO's main features and content reflect consumer input. In February 2011, it covered 1, 042 cancer trials. Since ACTO's public launch in November 2010, until the end of February 2011, the website has had 2, 549 new visits and generated 17, 833 page views. In a sub-study of 47 patient users, 89% found the website helpful for learning about clinical trials and all respondents thought patients should have access to ACTO.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The development of ACTO is an example of consumers working with doctors, researchers and policy makers to improve the information available to people whose lives are affected by cancer and to help them participate in their treatment decisions, including consideration of clinical trial enrolment. Consumer input has ensured that the website is informative, targets consumer priorities and is user-friendly. ACTO serves as a model for other health conditions.</p