Assessing service quality of community-based ecotourism: a case study from Kampung Kuantan Firefly Park

Community-based ecotourism (CBE) could offer business opportunities to local communities living within or adjacent to unique ecological sites. CBE focuses on impact of tourism on the community and takes environmental, social and cultural sustainability into account. To assess the extent that CBE has been practised in Malaysia, Kampung Kuantan Firefly Park (FP), a habitat of the Lampyridae species beetle, was selected as study site to evaluate the services that the park offered and to assess the ability of the service provider, with the participation from local stakeholders, to fulfil tourist requests using the criteria of CBE as guidelines. Data were collected using convenience sampling of international and domestic tourists using questionnaire. All questions had been prior tested for reliability. The method of analysis involved the critical incident technique to identify and assess the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of tourists with regard to service encounters at the park. Five service failure constructs were identified and prioritised, namely, dissatisfaction with the quality of attractions and facilities at the park, tourist expectations before the visit, inadequate knowledge of employees, unacceptable behaviours of employees and other tourists, and inadequate responses to tourist needs. The form of recovery strategies undertaken by the service provider, its employees and participating community for major service quality failures were recorded and their effectiveness assessed

Social network analysis of Kampung Kuantan Fireflies Park, Selangor and the implications upon its governance

Community-based management practices stakeholder inclusivity is claimed to be the panacea in overcoming problems and dilemmas in governing ecotourism. Kampung Kuantan Fireflies Park (KKFP) in Kuala Selangor faced several complaints from tourists which were hypothesised to be associated with governance of the park. Social network analysis was utilised to identify the key stakeholders within the governance network of managing ecotourism and in understanding the interests and roles of these stakeholders. The network metrics used were number of edges, density, geodesic distance, and degree and betweenness centralities. The network metric and map obtained suggested that the local community boatmen had the highest degree and betweenness centralities in the KKFP social network. Inclusivity, particularly in the fireflies observation boat ride and tour services, had occurred but involvement in the management decision-making held by the district office could be improved. Possible explanations are provided for the dichotomy of findings between the informal power held by the local community boatmen and the formal authority held by the district office in the context of the Malaysian culture and custom

Metal artefact correction algorithm based-on DSAT technique for CT images

This paper presents a correction algorithm for metal artefacts in CT images using a novel technique known as dual-step adaptive thresholding (DSAT). The proposed artefact correction algorithm was applied to selected artefactual phantom and clinical CT images. The missing projection data due to metal is detected and extracted by double-thresholding technique. The DSAT-based algorithm allows significant reduction of the artefact and preserves most of the anatomical structures in the corrected CT images

An Ontological Approach towards Dialoguebased Information Visualization System: Quran Corpus for Juz' Amma

This paper presents a corpus that offers rich and authentic knowledge for Juz' Amma using the ontological engineering approach. The reason of the study conducted is because of lack of understanding of Juz' Amma in the form of listing result. At the same time, the listing result does not provide pictorial tidings for clustering the listing result. Therefore, the corpus covers knowledge from various authentic sources, including translation, annotation of keywords, tafsir, and related hadiths for every verse in English and Malay. The ontology is engineered and designed to effectively utilize the authentic knowledge extracted from the corpus intended to serve a dialogue-based information visualization system for Quranic text. A standard ontology engineering methodology was applied for developing the ontology. After creation, the ontology was evaluated and was found to fulfill the goals for which it was developed. The corpus and ontology are hoped to aid various semantic applications related to Quranic text in the future

INDIGENOUS PARENTS’ PERCEPTION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF FORMAL EDUCATION IN MALAYSIA

Background and Purpose: Parents play a crucial role in children's educational attainment. Their perception influences their action in giving better formal education to their children. However, the scenario is different for the Indigenous community in Malaysia where formal education is deemed least important and there is a huge gap for Indigenous education attainment compared to the stream population. This paper aims to elucidate the parent perception of formal education effectiveness among the Indigenous community or Orang Asli (in the Malay language) in Terengganu, Malaysia.   Methodology: The research using qualitative methods involved three Indigenous villages in the state of Terengganu. Data were collected through interviews, focus group discussions and observation. The informants consisted of Indigenous parents, teachers and the officers of the Department of Orang Asli Development (JAKOA).   Findings: Results showed that parents' perceptions are generally stereotyped and unable to stimulate students’ interest. The common problem in teaching and learning is related to parents’ educational background, socioeconomic background, expectations, marital age, surrounding condition and awareness.   Contributions: This study has given the real picture of Indigenous parents' perceptions toward formal education. The implications of Indigenous parents’ education problems are significantly associated with degrading interest among students in education, issues of attendance and students' academic performance.   Keywords: Orang Asli, formal education, academic attainment, parent’s perception, Terengganu.   Cite as: Mohd Noor, M. I., Abdullah, M. F., Tedong, P. A., Ahmad Zaini, A., Abd Kadir, N. A., & Abdullah, M. T. (2023). Indigenous parents’ perception of the effectiveness of formal education in Malaysia. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 8(1), 384-405. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol8iss1pp384-40

Debt maturity and Shari’ah compliance : evidence from Malaysian panel data

This paper investigates the effect of firm-specific characteristics on debt maturity in Malaysia. We examine the impact of Shari’ah compliance on debt maturity structure by grouping companies based on compliance status as governed by the Securities Commission of Malaysia over the sample period of 2007 to 2016. The results indicate that Shari’ah compliant firms tend to have longer debt maturity structure indicating that the nature of compliance determines the maturity structure of companies in Malaysia as managers of these firms tend to focus on mitigating liquidity risks potentially faced. In addition, Shari’ah compliant firms also tend to have lower bankruptcy costs. Contrary to their non-compliant counterparts, managers of Shari’ah compliant firms tend to change debt maturity structure as a signaling tool whilst opting for longer structures in periods of positive share price performance. We also find that Shar’iah compliance has no impact on firms’ strategy of matching debt to asset maturity structure.peer-reviewe

Non Linear Speed of Adjustment to Lead Leverage Levels and the Timing Element in Equity Issues: Empirical Evidence from the UK

The dynamic trade-off view of capital structure is based on partial adjustment models that find that firms adjust towards target levels. In this paper, we estimate the speed of adjustment based on the first difference of the lead leverage levels (actual lead) and lag leverage levels (actual lag) to the first difference of simulated lead (target) leverage levels and lag levels (actual lag leverage) for UK firms. Consistent with the literature we find that firms adjust the lag (current) leverage levels faster to lead levels when they are above lead levels relative to periods when they are below lead levels. This is due to managerial actions in minimizing present value of bankruptcy costs when firms are over-levered. Bringing in the market timing view of capital structure, we measure deviation of market prices to predicted theoretical values, and find that speed of adjustment is influenced by equity mispricing. We find that firms adjust faster to lead levels when lag levels are above lead levels and the extent of deviation above theoretical values is not excessive relative to when deviations of prices from theoretical levels are too high. Furthermore, looking at firms below lead levels, we find that firms adjust faster to lead levels when equities prices below theoretical values severely deviate; suggesting that firms increase debt issues when equity prices are acutely suppressed. This indicates managers are consistently looking at windows of opportunities when issuing or repurchasing to ensure successful timing attempts. Thus, our findings suggest that although market timing could also work within a trade-off framework where managers are timing based on the deviation from theoretical prices as well as moving towards simulated lead levels, the extent of the integration of both explanations of capital structure remains puzzling

Froth-based modeling and control of a batch flotation process

Automatic control of the flotation process is a difficult task due to the large number of variables involved, significant disturbances, and the process's complex nature. Previous research has established that flotation performance is reflected in the structure of the froth's surface. This paper describes the application of machine vision and fuzzy logic in controlling a batch-flotation cell. To perform this process, a laboratory flotation cell was operated under different conditions while process and image data were simultaneously recorded. Then, correlations between the resultant froth features and process variables were modeled, and an interpretable froth model was created. A fuzzy controller was designed and implemented to control process performance through the extracted froth features at the desired level by manipulating the selected process variables. The results indicate that the developed control system is able to handle process disturbances and track reference signals

The socioeconomics support on indigenous Community in Malaysia

The Malaysian community has been impacted by the government development programs that were put in place. The effects of development that have been changing the socioeconomic atmosphere of populations are not limited to mainstream races but also to vulnerable communities like Orang Asli. Many development programmes have been implemented to uplift the well-being of Orang Asli since before Independence Day in 1957. Thus, this study aims to investigate the efficiency of socioeconomic support programmes in the Orang Asli community to bring them out of multidimensional poverty. This study was done on the head of household (HoH) of the Orang Asli community living near the National Park in Pahang. SEM Amos analysis was used to validate all the hypotheses about dependent variables: education, health, the standard of living and wealth. Only the indicators in the health dimension have negative values. This indicates that both indicators, child mortality rate and nutrition, are good in all three Orang Asli settlements. Besides that, logistic regression shows that only the indicators in the health dimension have negative values, indicating that both indicators, child mortality rate and child nutrition, are good in all three Orang Asli settlements. Therefore, any responsible bodies need to emphasise these particular deprivation matters to uplift the well-being status of the Orang Asli. In addition, serious involvement in the tourism sector is the better option to bring this community out of deprivation, as they live in an attractive and tourism-driven area, the National Park

The Prospect of Biochar by Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch (OPEFB) in the Removal of Contaminants Emerging Concern (CECs)

Although pharmaceuticals are detected at low levels, their continued release into the environment might result in significant long-term concentrations and lead to damaging consequences on humans, animals, and the environment. The findings have been analysed that various pharmaceutical components were found in sewage treatment plants, including naproxen sodium. Naproxen sodium has been found in various water sources, such as in groundwater and in drinking water. Utilizing OPEFB as adsorbent in wastewater treatment is a feasible alternative. This study focussed on the adsorption capacity of OPEFB biochar for naproxen removal water. The highest percentage removal (99.7%) of naproxen achieved at 100 ppm concentration with 2.5 g of OPEFB biochar. Meanwhile, the usage of 5.0g of OPEFB biochar showed the highest percentage of the removal of naproxen sodium at 100 ppm concentration after 24 hours was 99.27%. OPEFB is one of the most suitable and have the potential in removing almost all the pollutants in wastewater by undergoing the adsorption process