A Study on Effectiveness of Technical Academic Programs in Supporting Towards Lifelong Learning in a Technical University in Malaysia

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of academic program towards supporting lifelong learning in a technical university in Malaysia. This study explored the relationship between various components in academic programs namely teaching and learning strategies, learning materials, role of instructors, course content, support system, and practical sessions; and students' attitude towards learning and their motivation to learn. A total of 263 students from semester 2 to semester 7 in eight academic programs were surveyed. The finding reveals that the students have good perceptions on each component of the academic programs and all those components have significant relationship with the students' attitude towards learning. It is also further learnt that the students' motivation to learn has a very strong positive connection with the students attitude towards learning

Can deep-sub-micron device noise be used as the basis for probabilistic neural computation?

This thesis explores the potential of probabilistic neural architectures for computation with future nanoscale Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors (MOSFETs). In particular, the performance of a Continuous Restricted Boltzmann Machine {CRBM) implemented with generated noise of Random Telegraph Signal (RTS) and 1/ f form has been studied with reference to the 'typical' Gaussian implementation. In this study, a time domain RTS based noise analysis capability has been developed based upon future nanoscale MOSFETs, to represent the effect of nanoscale MOSFET noise on circuit implementation in particular the synaptic analogue multiplier which is subsequently used to implement stochastic behaviour of the CRBM. The result of this thesis indicates little degradation in performance from that of the typical Gaussian CRBM. Through simulation experiments, the CRBM with nanoscale MOSFET noise shows the ability to reconstruct training data, although it takes longer to converge to equilibrium. The results in this thesis do not prove that nanoscale MOSFET noise can be exploited in all contexts and with all data, for probabilistic computation. However, the result indicates, for the first time, that nanoscale MOSFET noise has the potential to be used for probabilistic neural computation hardware implementation. This thesis thus introduces a methodology for a form of technology-downstreaming and highlights the potential of probabilistic architecture for computation with future nanoscale MOSFETs

Sistem Penghantaran Mel Negeri Selangor (Di Bawah Kendalian Pusat Mel Bukit Raja)

Postal service is one of the most popular mailing services in Malaysia. Majority of Malaysians used this service to send or delivers their letters, products, telegrams and the like. Therefore a research on mailing services was conducted in Bukit Raja Mailing Center to determine the efficiency of the service and to analyse on the delivery system in each of the depot involve in the state of Selangor. Analysis was carried out on the data concerning the process time and travelling time from depot to depot. There were eight routes all together in which each route is divided into two periods namely the morning period and evening period. The result of the analysis is recommended an alternative route that will increase efficiency. Two models were used in this research. There are the Networking and Computer Simulation model. Comparison was made between the model suggested and the existing one in order to evaluate the result. This research shows that the suggested alternative route is capable in reducing the time and distance of the service in each route

A 10 year review of group B streptococcal infection among neonates admitted to Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia

Background: Group B Streptococcal (GBS) is a well-known cause of infections which causes significant morbidity and mortality in neonate. Neonates are primarily infected through vertical infections from a GBS colonized mothers. Intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis during labour in a mother with risk has become the primary intervention in reducing the rate of transmission to neonates. This study aims to look at the numbers and clinical characteristic of early and late onset GBS infections in neonates with GBS admitted to Hospital USM. Objectives: To study the early and late onset GBS infections and its associated factors among neonates admitted to HUSM between January 2008 and December 2017. Methodology: A cross-sectional and retrospective record review study of neonates with Group B Streptococcal infection was conducted between January 2008 and December 2017. Early onset disease (EOD) was defined as GBS infection occurred in neonates aged within 7 days of life whilst late onset disease (LOD) occurred after 7 days of life. The positive cases of GBS were identified from the microbiology laboratory Hospital USM WHONET system database. The data on the proportions of neonates with GBS infection, EOD and LOD, and clinical characteristic and outcome were analysed through descriptive statistical analysis. The Chi-square and Fisher exact test were used to determine whether there were a significant difference of clinical presentations, laboratory parameters and duration of hospital stays in EOD and LOD. A p value less than 0.05 was considered significant in this study. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to determine the association between maternal and neonatal factors toward early onset neonatal GBS. Results: A total number of 123 complete medical records review and data were retrieved. The findings show a total number of 111 (90.2%) neonates with early onset GBS infection and 12 (9.8%) neonates with late onset GBS infection. The age of neonates admitted ranging from day 1 to day 26 of life with a mean of 2.76 days. A majority of GBS cases were confirmed through urine GBS latex agglutination test with a total number of 68(55.3%) neonates and followed by blood culture with 24 (19.5%) neonates. 80 (65%) neonates were male neonates. Malay makes up 121 (98.4%) of the studied neonates. The neonatal weight 2.5 to 3.99 kg makes up majority of the cases with 89 (72.4%) neonates and most neonatal gestation ranging from 37 to 39 weeks with 63 (51.2%) neonates. A majority of the neonates delivered in the hospital and through vaginal delivery. A total of 67 (54.5%) mothers were between the ages of 21 to 30 years old with majority maternal parity of gravida 2 to gravida 5. Most cases were from district of Kota Bharu with 44.7% neonates followed by Besut 14.6% neonates and Bachok 13.8% neonates. From the record retrieved, only a total of 13(10.6%) mother screened for GBS via HVS and from that 7(5.7%) mother were positive for GBS. Intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis (IAP) was only received by 4 (57.1%) mothers during delivery in those with positive GBS HVS screening. The most common clinical presentation in the early onset of GBS infection were sepsis, in 50 (45.0%) neonates followed by pneumonia in 31(27.9%) neonates and jaundice in 21(18.9%) neonates. However in late onset GBS infection, jaundice was the most common clinical presentation in 5(41.7%) neonates, followed by sepsis in 4(33.3%) neonates and fever in 3 (25.0%) neonates. A total of 61 (49.6%) neonates required some form of respiratory support with most of them needing oxygen support via nasal prong oxygen or headbox oxygen. Abnormalities of blood parameters only occur in the early onset of GBS neonatal infection group with leucocytosis was the most common laboratory abnormalities with a total of 24 (21.6%) neonates. CRP was only positive in a small number of cases with total of 23 (18.7%) neonates. The mean duration of hospital stay range between 1 day to 122 days with a mean of 14.15 days. Only 1 death was recorded whereby the baby was premature at 24 weeks with blood culture positive for GBS. Baby passed away at 19 hours of life. Through multiple logistic regression with various maternal and neonatal factors affecting the early onset group, it was noted that mothers with an increase of 1 year of age has a 0.89 the odds or 11% reduced risk or protection to have babies with early onset GBS. Conclusion: The majority of neonatal GBS infections were in the early onset of GBS group. The confirmation of GBS infection was mainly from urine GBS latex agglutinations test. The most common clinical presentation for early and late onset GBS infection were sepsis, pneumonia, jaundice and fever. Nearly half of the neonates with GBS infection require some form of respiratory support and hospital admissions more than 7 days. Increasing maternal age has become a protective factor in the early onset of GBS infection

Rain Attenuation Modelling and Mitigation in The Tropics: Brief Review

This paper is a brief review of Rain AttenuationModelling and Mitigation in the Tropics. The fast depleting availability of the lower frequency bands like the Ku-band as a result of congestion by commercial satellite operations coupled with severe rain attenuations experienced at higher frequency bands (Ka and Q/V), particularly in the tropical regions which was caused by higher rainfall rates and bigger raindrop size, amongst others; it was pertinent that deliberate effforts be geared towards research along this direction. This became even more critical owing to a dearth database along the slant path in the tropical regions for use in rain propagation studies at microwave frequencies, especially at millimeter wave bands (where most signal depolarization and fading takes place). The results presented in this work are valuable for design and planning of the satellite link, particularly in the tropical regions.DAH, ITU-R and SAM model simulations along the slant-path were investigated using local rainfall data at 0.01% of the time, while making use of TRMM data from NigComSat-1 satellite to obtain the measured data for Lagos. Terrestrial attenuation data for 0.01% of the time for UTM were obtained from the UTM wireless communication center (WCC). The attenuation data were thereafter transformed to slant path using transformation technique proposed for Ku band byA. Y. Abdulrahman. Theattenuation exceeded for other percentages of the average year was obtained using statistical interpolation extrapolation method.It was observed that the proposed model predicts creditably well for the ka down link frequency band, by producing the best performance when compared with SAM, DAH and ITU-R models.DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.11591/ijece.v2i6.122

Comparative analysis of bright band data from TRMM and ground radar data in Malaysia

Good knowledge of the formation and recognition of the bright band is necessary to determine the location of the melting layer. This is partly because the melting layer is one of the major hydrometeors (others include as rain, hail, and cloud) responsible for signal degradations along the slant-path, in the tropical regions of the world. These may result in signal fading, amongst others, which may lead to errors in slant-path attenuation predictions. This paper involves the comparative analysis of radar data sourced from both ground 3D RAPIC bistatic radar and space-borne precipitation radar above the Malaysian air space. For this research work, the terrestrial meteorological radar data were sourced from the Meteorological Department of Malaysia, while the satellite radar data were obtained from the near-real-time TRMM Multi-Satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA-RT) version 7 products. Frozen hydrometeors are observed to exhibit peculiar characteristics in terms of increased radar reflectivity as they fall from the sky, transiting from solid to liquid, and manifesting in the popular bright band signature. The melting layer is the region where melting occur, just below the 0? isotherm height. It is a major factor responsible for the problems being encountered in characterization and modelling of microwave signal propagation along the earth-space link. , Nor Hisham Khami

Seasonal and Diurnal Variability of Rain Heights at An Equatorial Station

Seasonal and diurnal rain heights variation at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor was studied. Slant path rain attenuation prediction and modeling is crucial to satellite equipment design; a major input is the rain height. One year meteorological ground-based, S-band, 3D RAPIC precipitation radar data at 500m resolution sourced from the Malaysian Meteorological Department was complemented with two-year TRMM PR data sourced from JAXA Earth Observation Research Center. After filtering, sorting, extraction and decoding of the data, vertical reflectivity profiles were constructed; from which rain height parameters were extracted. TRMM PR processed monthly (3A25) and daily (2A23) rainfall precipitation data were similarly used to obtain rain height parameters to investigate the seasonal and diurnal variations. Results from this work suggested that rain height parameters are influenced by both seasonal and diurnal variations. Higher seasonal variability was observed during south-west and pre-southwest monsoons. Rain heights were also observed to be higher in the night than in the day time

Determination of Melting Layer Boundaries and Attenuation Evaluation in Equatorial Malaysia at Ku-Band

Upsurge in bandwidth demand in recent times for real-time data transmission have put serious constraints on satellite communication channels, leading to congestion of the lower frequency bands; necessitating migration to higher bands (Ku, Ka and V) with attendant problems such as signal fading, depolarization and attenuation due to presence of hydrometeors. There is need to separately account for attenuation due to the melting layer along the earth-space microwave links. One year data from ground-based S-band meteorological radar sourced from Kluang station of the Malaysian Meteorological Department was processed to build the vertical reflectivity of rain profile for UTM, Malaysia. Results from this work suggested that the effects of the melting layer on signal attenuation at Ku-band can be quite significant in the tropical and equatorial regions. It was estimated to be 13.36 dB and 15.44 dB at 0.01% of the time exceeded using Laws-parsons and Marshall-Palmer regression coefficients, respectively. Furthermore, it was observed that ITU-R. P.618-11 model largely under-estimated the attenuation along the slant-paths because of its failure to account for attenuation due to the melting layer in its formulation by its assumption of constant rain rate; thus rendering it unsuitable for rain attenuation predictions in the tropics

Audit Committee Characteristics and Voluntary Disclosure: Evidence from Malaysian Listed Firms

Global economic crisis in 2008 has increased the focus on the role of audit committee in ensuring integrity and transparency in corporate reporting. Audit committee characteristics are crucial in determining the ability of audit committee in carrying out its responsibilities effectively. Hence, this study aims to investigate the contribution of audit committee characteristics; independence, accounting expertise, multiple directorship, size, and diligence to audit committee effectiveness over corporate voluntary disclosure by Malaysian listed firms. The study uses 146 firms listed on Bursa Malaysia for the year 2006. The empirical results have revealed that proportion of independent directors, and number of directors on audit committee is significantly associated with corporate voluntary disclosure, and hence enhances audit committee effectiveness. The study contributes to the understanding of the association between audit committee characteristics and such committee effectiveness in respect to voluntary disclosure practices