Predicting research fund management performance using logistic regression: A case study of Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) research projects / Siti Nabilah Syuhada Abdullah

Established in January 2006, ORICC or Office for Research, Innovation, Commercialization and Consultancy Management of University Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Johor, has become the main drive force to enhance research culture and activities at the university. ORICC has created many bold ideas to increase the university’s research quantities and qualities, including the creation of bold mission and vision of research at UTHM. This study aims to analyze the current performance of these funds and find out factors which influences the researchers fund management performance. It can provide assistance in identifying groups of researchers which must be advised about their research expenditure and identify possible team manager candidates that are capable of managing the research project financially in the future. A logistic regression approach was used and it was discovered that a team manager’s age, faculty and the research project’s grant type affects the research project’s fund management status. It was found that research projects who are funded by internal grants are twice more likely to fail in managing their funds than research projects funded by external grants. In terms of team managers’ faculty, when compared to FKMP, team managers from PPD have the highest risk of failing to manage the research project funds followed by team manager from FPTV, FSTPI, FKEE and FPTP. Besides that, research projects with more team members are more likely to fail in managing their research fund compared to research project with fewer team member

A multimodal conversation analytic study of word-searches in L2 interaction

PhD ThesisStudies on face-to-face interactions have demonstrated how spoken language involves not only verbal but also a mutual collaboration with embodied actions. Embodied actions, such as gaze, gestures, body posture and physical movement are part and parcel of the details of ordered social interaction, and they can be significant resources in interaction (Hazel et al., 2014). This study has investigated the embodied actions displayed in word search phenomenon in L2 interaction. Word search is regarded as a type of self-initiation repair in which the progressivity of the speaker’s turn is momentarily ceased due to an item (i.e. word) is not available to the speaker when due (Schegloff et al., 1977). The context of the study is a non-educational context (Firth and Wagner, 1997; Firth and Wagner, 2007; Gardner and Wagner, 2004) where casual conversation among international university students having dinner at a cafe is recorded. Furthermore, the study is a multiactivity setting in which multiparty participants are engaged in talking, eating and drinking. The L2 speakers are from different countries, and most of them have a different first language background. This study examines conversations between L2-L2 speakers communicating in English as it is the most common language that international students resort to when speaking with someone who has a different language background. Using multimodal Conversation Analysis (CA), this study aims to explore how participants with different language proficiency exploit embodied actions as resources in word search sequences. The analyses start with investigating how participants get into a word search and then moves to enquiring how participants use embodied actions for constructing a joint solution. The final analysis focuses on how embodied actions are used as a resource to resolve a word search when the targeted word is not attained. The findings from the investigation suggest that there is a relationship between talk and embodied actions in word search sequences among L2-L2 speakers. Based on the findings, six salient themes will be discussed; (1) the interactional phenomenon of a ‘word search’, (2) resources that are recognised as opportunities for co-participation, (3) joint solutions by non-speaking participants, (4) meaning-making through embodied interaction, (5) achieving mutual understanding through embodied negotiation, and ii (6) language use or learning in the wild. Overall, this study advocates the need for an in-depth exploration of multimodal resources in word search sequences, which can have significant implications to understand that language use is fundamentally multimodal (Seyfeddinipur and Gullberg, 2014).Ministry of Higher Education of Malaysi

Doing second language learning in the wild

The focus of this study is to investigate what do international students do ‘in the wild’, that is, in a mundane, everyday, out-of-classroom second language talk. In face-to-face interactions, spoken language involves not only verbal but also a mutual collaboration with other non-linguistics resources, such as gaze, gestures and bodily behaviour (Goodwin, 1981). This study aims to add to the growing body of second language (L2) research which goes ‘beyond the language classroom’, outside educational settings (Firth and Wagner, 1997; Wagner, 2004) particularly among L2 speakers who do not share the first language. The data for this study consists of casual conversation among international university students having dinner at a cafe which is video-recorded. Using conversation analysis or sometimes referred to as ‘CA-SLA’ (Kasper and Wagner, 2011), this study aims to explore how participants with different language background exploit language and other non-linguistic resources in second language talk outside of educational settings. The findings from the investigation suggest that talk, gaze and gestures as coordinated interactional resources in creating opportunities in L2 learning. The learning sequences in the L2 interaction is framed around repair activities and word searches. By analysing the repair and word search sequences, we demonstrate how participants draw on language and non-linguistic resources for understanding (Seo, 2011) and opportunity for L2 learning can take place outside a classroom environment (Firth and Wagner, 1997)

Primary School Pupils' Patierns Of Understanding Relating To Germination Of Seeds

Locally, there is a dearth of research on primary school children's understanding of science concepts. Not much is known about the conceptions they hold of science objects or phenomena and nor do the factors that influence their understanding of concepts. Using a combination of the grounded theory and case study approach, this study sought to examine the patterns of understanding relating to germination of seeds of sixty-two Year Four pupils from two primary schools within the Klang Valley. Each pupil was asked to draw his or her context map, interviewed and sat for a paper-andpencil test twice; once before and another after classroom instruction. The patterns of understanding of seed germination were formed based on their notion of seeds, seed formation, germination process and germination requirements. The findings of the study highlighted several important points on which an evolutionary model of understanding of science concept and a comprehensive a framework for science learning and understanding were generated. First, pupils brought into their classrooms a myriad of non-scientific ideas relating to the understudied concepts, largely influenced by the socio-cultural factors within which they were brought up. These included their home environment, the society, media, religion, belief system, language and metaphors used. Internal factors in the form of previous knowledge and conceptual schema of seeds were also found to have influenced their understanding of germination. However, there were also pupils who were not exposed to seeds and germination during their early years of socialization, resulting in their knowing nothing or very little about those concepts

Language And Malaysian Children’s Scientific Understanding

Despite scores of studies examining various factors influencing Malaysian students’ understanding of science concepts, very few have actually looked into how the meaning of a specific concept is formed. This study was carried out to examine language influences on Malaysian children’s understanding of concepts relating to germination of seeds. Through the use of interview, concept maps and written test, the author examines how language affects the development of meaning and understanding. Science lessons were also observed to determine how language use in the classroom influences children’s understanding. It was found that children possess a myriad of understandings of each of the concepts examined prior to and after instruction, indicating that linguistic elements influence the formation of conceptual understanding as well as the way meaning is assigned to each of the concept

Validation and Quality Assessment of Sea Levels from SARAL/ AltiKa Satellite Altimetry over the Marginal Seas at the Southeast Asia

In this study, high resolution (40 Hz) sea levels derived from the advanced SARAL/AltiKa satellite altimetry are validated over the Southeast Asia coastal regions. The parameter of sea level is derived based on three standard retracking algorithms of MLE-4, Ice-1, and Ice-2. The assessments of quantity and quality of the retracked sea levels are conducted to identify the optimum retracker over the study regions, which are the Andaman Sea, the Strait of Malacca, the South China Sea, the Gulf of Thailand, and the Sulu Sea. The quantitative analysis involves the computation of percentage of data availability and the minimum distance of sea level anomaly (SLA) to the coastline. The qualitative analysis involves the absolute validation with tide gauge. In general, AltiKa measurement can get as close as ˜1 km to the coastline with ≥85% data availability. The Ice-1 retracker has shown an excellent performance with percentage of data availability ≥90% and minimum distance as close as 0.9 km to the coastline. In term of quality of the data, 3 out of 6 validation site show that Ice-1 retracker is superior than the other retracker with temporal correlation up to 0.89 and RMS error up to 8 cm

Languages, gestures and movement as evasion strategies used by Dato' Seri Najib in news interview

News interview is regarded as a form of institutional talk where the interaction process between the participants differs from an ordinary conversation in which the course of interaction in news interviews is an exchange of question-and-answer (Clayman & Heritage, 2002). This paper aims to explore evasion practices used by Dato’ Seri Najib Razak in an exclusive interview episode ‘101 East’ broadcasted live by Al Jazeera Channel on 26th October 2018. The data was collected from the online YouTube videos in which the participants in the 101 East were between the host interviewer, Mary Jolley, and the guest interviewee, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak. Using conversation analysis approach, this study analyzed how the interviewee evaded from answering controversial questions in the interview. The findings suggest that language, gestures and movement were used by the interviewee as evasion strategies to avoid from answering questions and to terminate topics in the interview. The organization of gestures and movement used by the interviewee as evasion strategies in this study were forewarning, interruption, final thanks and body movement

Exploring multi-party interaction in tv talk show: non-verbal as resources for cooperative interruption

Interruption in conversation does not necessarily have to be negative as it could also be viewed as something positive such as for maintaining and progressing a conversation (Amalia, 2016; Li, 2001). This paper explored interruption practices in a Malaysian television (TV) talk show called the DOPStv (Deen of Peace Studios), an Islamic lifestyle talk show. The data was collected from the online YouTube videos in which the series on ‘couple talk’ was selected as the TV talk show represented a multi-party interaction where more than two speakers were involved in the talk. Using the conversation analysis approach, this study analyzed how interruption was managed by the participants in the TV talk show. The findings suggested that the participants in the DOPStv talk show utilized the use of non-verbal cues as resources for cooperative interruption such as to provide assistance, agreement and clarification in a multi-party interaction

Study on the ability of black soldier fly larvae for reducing the house fly eggs in poultry manure

Black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) are a good source of protein for aquaculture, animal feed, pet and human nutrition. Larvae have a healthy appetite and can be used to make household waste compost and residual agricultural. For previous study [1], observed that the BSFL can be grown in a variety of organic waste stream including pig manure, kitchen waste, fruits and vegetables, and given to the fish. In addition, the larvae benefit from the use of natural resources to overcome the problem of life cycle of widespread flies in the poultry farm openly. Therefore, it is important to note that the poultry farms release many particles into the air that endanger human health and the environment

The optimal coastal retracked sea levels from saral/altika satellite altimetry over the southeast asia

The current demand for accurate coastal altimetry data, particularly for the sea level has increased since human activities have become increasingly concentrated along coastal areas. Over coastal region, particularly within 10 km from the coastline, the altimeter footprint is severely contaminated by land and rough coastal sea states. The contamination leads to the low quality observations, thus creating a significant gap in data availability over the coast. The aim of this study is to evaluate the quality of coastal retracked sea level data from AltiKa satellite altimetry over the Southeast Asia region. In this study, high resolution (40 Hz) sea levels derived from the advanced AltiKa satellite altimetry are validated over the Southeast Asia coastal regions. The parameter of sea level is derived based on three standard retracking algorithms which are MLE-4, Ice-1 and Ice-2. The assessments of quantity and quality of the retracked sea levels data are conducted to identify the optimum retracker over the study regions, which are Andaman Sea, Strait of Malacca, South China Sea, Gulf of Thailand and Sulu Sea. The quantitative analysis involves the comparison between AltiKa and Jason-2 waveforms, the computation of percentage of data availability, and the minimum distance of Sea Level Anomaly (SLA) to the coastline. The qualitative analysis involves the relative validation with geoid height and absolute validation with tide gauge. In general, AltiKa measurement can obtain as close as 1 km to the coastline with =85% data availability. The Ice-1 retracker has shown an excellent performance with percentage of data availability at =90% and minimum distance as close as 0.9 km to the coastline. In term of quality, Ice-1 retracker shows the highest improvement of percentage (IMP) values over Andaman Sea, Sulu Sea and Strait of Malacca with IMPs of 19%, 16% and 43%, respectively. The Ice-1 retracker also shows the highest temporal correlation (up to 0.95) and the lowest root mean square (RMS) error up to 8 cm over distance less than 10 km for those three regions. Contrary, over the South China Sea, Ice-2 retracker has better performance when compared to other retrackers with IMP values of 43%. Over distance less than 10 km to the shore, the temporal correlation and RMS error reach up to 0.88 and 7 cm respectively. Over the Gulf of Thailand, the optimum retracker cannot be concluded due to unavailable tide gauge data. The Ice-1 is the optimum retracker over three out of four regions. Therefore, it is used to study the seasonal variability of sea levels over the Southeast Asia. The seasonal variability shows that the mean amplitude is up to 25 cm during the Northeast Monsoon and decreased by 9 cm during the Southwest Monsoon and between 2 to 9 cm during inter-monsoon seasons. In conclusion, the research has significantly contributed in defining the quantity and quality of the AltiKa SLAs in the coastal region of Southeast Asia. The results from comprehensive validation obtained in this research present a significant improvement in identifying the reliability and applicability of the AltiKa datasets and retracking algorithms over the coastal area of the study region