Hubungan Faktor-Faktor Risiko Dengan Tuntutan Di Dalam Projek 'Fast Track'

This research investigates the relationship between risk factors and contractor's claim in a 'fast track' project. Kajian ini menyelidiki hubungan di antara faktor-faktor risiko dengan tuntutan kontraktor di dalam projek pembinaan 'fast track'

A Study of Transaction Cost within the Supply Chain Network in Malaysia Construction Projects

— Construction industry of Malaysia is a complex and confronts with serious issues of cost overrun. Construction supply chain which involves multi-layered supply network carries lot of potential for conflict and additional costs involving additional transaction cost. To tackle this issue, the primary aim of this study is to identify component of waste in transaction cost within multi-layered supply chain network in Malaysian construction industry. The qualitative research approach is adopted to achieve the research objectives of this study. The data were collected through semi-structured interview from five (5) quantity surveyors working with a contractor firm situated within Klang Valley region. The implication of the finding implies that the identified data are crucial in eliminating waste in transaction cost

Meneroka kefungsian keluarga remaja perempuan tidak terkawal yang dirujuk ibu bapa untuk intervensi kerja sosial

Remaja berhadapan dengan cabaran perkembangan diri, namun turut terkesan dengan persekitaran keluarga yang berubah seiring kemajuan teknologi serta globalisasi. Dengan begitu banyak kes remaja perempuan yang terlibat dengan tingkah laku tidak terkawal dirujuk oleh ibu bapa mereka untuk tujuan pemulihan kepada pekerja sosial, maka timbul persoalan tentang bagaimana kefungsian keluarga mereka. Justeru kajian kualitatif dengan pendekatan kajian kes ini bertujuan untuk meneroka kefungsian keluarga remaja perempuan tidak terkawal. Pemilihan informan adalah secara persampelan bertujuan, terdiri daripada remaja perempuan berumur 13 hingga 18 tahun yang telah dirujuk ke Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat kerana pelbagai masalah tingkah laku. Hasil kajian menunjukkan terdapat tiga ciri utama ketidakfungsian keluarga remaja perempuan tidak terkawal iaitu (i) sosioekonomi yang rendah; (ii) gaya keibubapaan tidak bersesuaian; dan (iii) tiada role model dalam keluarga. Perkembangan semulajadi remaja turut dilihat sebagai pengalaman yang berkaitan dengan tingkah laku tidak terkawal. Secara umumnya remaja perempuan tidak terkawal bukan sahaja mempunyai keluarga disfungsi, tetapi turut berhadapan dengan cabaran persekitaran negatif dan tidak mampu membuat penyesuaian dengan keluarga tersebut. Kesimpulannya, remaja perempuan yang tidak terkawal berhadapan dengan dilema dan kemelut kerana mempunyai keluarga yang tidak berfungsi. Beberapa cadangan program pemulihan turut diberikan seperti intervensi berasaskan keluarga, pemerkasaan remaja dan keluarga disamping pemantapan nilai-nilai murni, moral dan kerohanian. Ketidakfungsian keluarga turut diambil kira di dalam program intervensi bagi membantu remaja perempuan ke arah yang lebih produktif dan hidup dalam keluarga yang lebih sejahtera

Fraudulent Financial Statement Detection Using Statistical Techniques: The Case of Small Medium Automotive Enterprise

Fraudulent financial statements (FFS) are now placed under greater public scrutiny following an increase in the number of collapses among companies due to management fraud with loses on average at 5% of revenue (ACFE, 2014). There is consensus that management fraud is an on-going reality and no single organization is immune from the damage caused by the fraudsters (KPMG Malaysia, 2009). Small and medium sized businesses are also threatened by fraudulent activities and statistics showed organizations with fewer than 100 employees experienced more fraud cases than larger corporations (ACFE, 2008). Most of the companies in the automotive industry in Malaysia are small and medium scaled, hence these companies bear a greater burden and face higher risks of fraud. Precautionary measures in preventing fraud are crucial; however, with limited resources, effective detection may be severely curtailed. This paper assesses the possibility of FFS in a small medium automotive company in Malaysia using three statistical analyses namely the Beneish model, Altman Z-Score and Financial Ratio. The findings show that there are riskier zones that need to be further investigated by the management. It is suggested for the company to establish an internal audit unit to provide assurance on the company’s operations, financial reporting accuracy and adherence to the regulations

A weighted subsethood mamdani fuzzy rules based system rule extraction (MFRBS-WSBA) for forecasting electricity load demand – a framework

Fuzzy rules are very important elements that should be taken consideration seriously when applying any fuzzy system.This paper proposes the framework of Mamdani Fuzzy Rulebased System with Weighted Subsethood-based Algorithm (MFRBS-WSBA) for forecasting electricity load demand. Specifically, this paper proposed two frameworks: MFRBSWSBA and WSBA framework where the WSBA is embedded in MFRBS-WSBA (fourth step in MFRBS-WSBA).The objective of this paper is to show the fourth step in the MFRBS-WSBA framework which applied the new electricity load forecasting rule extraction by WSBA method.We apply the proposed WSBA framework in Malaysia electricity load demand data as a numerical example in this paper.These preliminary results show that the WSBA framework can be one of alternative methods to extract fuzzy rules for forecast electricity load demand where the proposed method provide a simple to interpret the fuzzy rules and also offer a new direction to interpret the fuzzy rules compared to classical fuzzy rule

A Weighted Subsethood Mamdani Fuzzy Rules Based System Rule Extraction (MFRB-WSBA) for Forecasting Electricity Load Demand - A Framework

Fuzzy rules are very important elements that should be taken consideration seriously when applying any fuzzy system. This paper proposes the framework of Mamdani Fuzzy Rulebased System with Weighted Subsethood-based Algorithm (MFRBS-WSBA) for forecasting electricity load demand. Specifically, this paper proposed two frameworks: MFRBSWSBA and WSBA framework where the WSBA is embedded in MFRBS-WSBA (fourth step in MFRBS-WSBA). The objective of this paper is to show the fourth step in the MFRBS-WSBA framework which applied the new electricity load forecasting rule extraction by WSBA method. We apply the proposed WSBA framework in Malaysia electricity load demand data as a numerical example in this paper. These preliminary results show that the WSBA framework can be one of alternative methods to extract fuzzy rules for forecast electricity load demand where the proposed method provide a simple to interpret the fuzzy rules and also offer a new direction to interpret the fuzzy rules compared to classical fuzzy rule

Nutrition education intervention improves nutrition knowledge, attitude and practices of primary school children : a pilot study.

The purpose of this study was to determine the changes in knowledge, attitude and practices of primary school children after receiving a nutrition education intervention for 6 weeks. A validated questionnaire was used to assess knowledge, attitude and practice at pre- and post-intervention. A total of 335 students from four primary schools were assigned to either intervention or comparison group. The intervention group received nutrition education taught by trained school teachers while the comparison group received the standard Health and Physical Education curriculum. A generalized linear univariate procedure was used to compare changes in knowledge, attitude and practice scores between intervention and comparison groups with ethnicity, weight-for-age, mother’s and father’s employment as confounding factors. There were significant increments (p<0.001) in the post intervention mean scores of knowledge (2.17 vs. 0.47), attitude (1.40 vs. 0.32) and practice (0.87 vs. -0.10) items for the intervention group compared to comparison group. The changes in knowledge (F=17.72, p<0.001), attitude (F=6.41, p<0.05) and practice (F=15.49, p<0.001) in the intervention group were maintained even after adjusting for confounding factors. The findings support the importance of providing children with nutrition knowledge to promote healthy dietary behaviors

Mobility of IT professionals in Malaysia

This paper is based on a research study with the aim to investigate the mobility of IT professionals in Malaysia and come up with suggestions to improve recruitment and retention policies for the IT profession.A questionnaire,namely the IT Professional Turnover/Mobility Survey for the Management of IS/IT Department was constructed and administered to 415 respondents IT employees listed in the Malaysian National Computer Confederation (MNCC) registration list with a 25% response rate.Data gathered were statistically analysed descriptive statistics such as frequency counts and percentages,cross-tabulation,and correlation analysis.A research model was constructed based on review of related articles to determine factors that contribute tomobility of IT professionals.Among the major findings were a large majority of respondents would never or seldom moved and likely to stay for more than five years.Majority of respondents also indicated that they would remain as IT professionals with no plans to change their career.The findings also suggest that the three most attractive factors for moving among IT professionals are better salary,better working condition and better environment.The most common reasons for leaving was not happy with working conditions and no opportunity for self development.Good pay/renumeration was considered the best factor for staying in current organization,location (nearer to home) and career advancement opportunities were the two most popular factors chosen.On mobility factor,the variables found to be significantly related to mobility of IT professionals are: Age, Marital Status and Experience (Demographic Information);Tryout and Travel (Personality factor);Quitting Job and Satisfaction (Job Satisfaction);Salary (Career Advancement); and Work Condition and Flexi Time (Organizational Factor).On the employer's perspektive,the three most critical problems faced by employers when their IT personnel leave were disruption to scheduler,retraining, and difficulty to get replacement.In summary, the findings presented in this study suggest that IT professionals are likely to stay in their professions,felt that they have made the right choice in their career with the intention of staying with their current job,whilst charting their career goals within the IT profession, but less ambitious in taking up a more senior position within or outside the organization

Potential of Tinospora crispa as a Hypocholesterolemic agent in rabbits

Introduction: Hypercholesterolemia is the major cause of cardiovascular disturbances. The influence of Tinospora crispa on atherosclerotic plaque formation in rabbits fed with high cholesterol diet was investigated. Methods: Thirty male New Zealand White rabbits were divided into 6 groups. The negative control (NC) and positive control (PC) groups were used as a negative and positive (0.5% cholesterol) control. The simvastatin control (SC) group was given a high cholesterol diet (HCD) with 5mg/kg simvastatin. Treatment groups T150 and T450 were given HCD with supplementation of 150,300 and 450mg/kg of T.crispa extract respectively for 10 weeks. Blood was collected from ear vein for plasma analysis while the aortas were excised and examined microscopically. Results: Comparison within groups showed that PC, T300 and T450 had a significant increase (p<0.05) in total cholesterol level throughout the study. The groups supplemented with T.crispa (T150, T300 and T450) were significantly higher (p<0.05) in high density lipoprotein (HDL) level by 10.7-fold, significantly higher (p<0.05) in total antioxidant activity and had a significantly lower (p<0.05) LDL level compared to PC at week 10. At week 10, T450 had significantly highest (p<0.05) glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase levels compared to PC. No foam cell formation was visible in the aorta of rabbits,in groups NC,SC and T450. However , there was visible foam cell formation in the aorta of groups PC, T150 and T300. Conclusion: This study suggest that supplementation of 450mg/kg of T.crispa extract would be able to reduce or retard the progression of atherosclerotic plaque development induced by dietary cholesterol

Antioxidant Activity of the Phenolic Leaf Extracts from Monechma ciliatum in Stabilization of Corn Oil

The total phenolic content and the antioxidan potential of methanolic extract (ME), ethyl acetate extract (EAE), and hexane extract (HE) from Monechma ciliatum leaves (MCL) were evaluated. The Folin-Ciocalteu, b-carotene bleaching, the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging and the accelerated oxidation methods were used for evaluation. Both the extraction yield and the antioxidant activity (AOA) were strongly dependent on the solvent. Among the extracts, ME exhibited highest total phenolic compounds (TPC) and IC50 values for DPPH, followed by EAE and HE, respectively. Peroxide value (PV), anisidine value (AV) conjugated dienes (CD), and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) were taken as the parameters for evaluation of stabilization efficacy of MCL extracts and results revealed MCL to be a potent antioxidant for the stabilization of corn oil. As a general trend, increased AOA was observed for increased extract concentration. The predominant phenolic compounds identified by HPLC-DAD in MCL extracts were p-coumaric acid, vanillin and ferulic acid