User profiling in the intelligent office

The research aim is to investigate different methods of profiling user activities in an office environment. This will allow optimal use of resources in future Intelligent Office Environments while still taking account of user preferences and comfort. To achieve the goal of this research, a data collection system is designed and built. This required a wireless Sensor Network to monitor a wide range of ambient conditions and user activities, and a software agent to monitor user’s Personal Computer activities. Collected data from different users are gathered into a central database and converted into a meaningful format for description of the worker’s Activity of Daily Working (ADW) and office environment conditions. Different techniques including Approximate Entropy (ApEn), consistency measures, linear similarity measures and Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) are employed to quantify a user’s behaviour and extract a user profile. The individual user profile is representative of a user’s preferences, consisting of user routine activities, consistency of office usage and their thermal comfort. Using the statistical techniques, consistency and ApEn, it is possible to characterise different users with only a few parameters. Using similarity techniques one can assess the interrelationship of different aspects of a user’s behaviour. This helps to assess the importance of those aspects within the profile. The novel contribution is the use of these techniques within the context of ADW. This research investigates soft computing techniques to enhance user profiling. A novel fuzzy characteristic matrix is proposed to summarised the ADW. The activity recognition models using an eventdriven and a fuzzy inference system are proposed to recognise a worker’s activities during times when the office is occupied and unoccupied during a workday. The experimental results demonstrate the models recognise a worker’s activities and can classify into six categories (home, lunch, short break, out of office duties, not use computer/lighting and use computer/lighting) with accuracy of more than 90

Pavement Life Variation with Material Characteristics, Road Profiles and Environmental Effects

Long-term performance of pavements is dependence on several aspects including design and method of construction, vehicles loading and environmental conditions along their service life. The pavement response to these aspects is mostly based on the stiffness characteristic of the materials. The most significant stiffness property is the resilient modulus that is based on the strain under loads, and several factors include roughness of road profile, soil property, soil type and stress state. This study focuses on the simulation of the pavement performance by considering pavement material and vehicle characteristic, road roughness, and temperature variations. The vehicle-road interaction is the main focus. It includes analysis of the integration of damage consequence by the static and dynamic loads of the vehicle fleet on the structural variability of the pavement. Meanwhile, other factors such as temperature influencing the modulus degradation of the bituminous material is also included. As a result, all factors were significantly contributed to the life of the pavement. 

Research needs: issues and problems of talent working graduates university programs of engineering and technology

Career nowadays require graduates with working experience in order to work optimally and orderly manner. Employers have certain requirements and criteria in selecting prospective employees such as academic graduates, soft skills, curriculum and good talent. The study was conducted with the aim of looking at the identify issues and problems in the industry related to university graduates programs of engineering and technology. This study uses structured partial interview instruments. This interview sessions were carried out with 2 people from the industry and 3 university graduates unemployed. This interview to run to see in terms of talent work required in the industry. The overall data interviews taken will transcript to identify issues and problems. The results show that the employer seeks students of engineering and technology talent to work before working in industry

TINJAUAN PENGLIBATAN PENSYARAH POLITEKNIK DALAM MELAKSANAKAN LATIHAN INOVASI BAGI MENINGKATKAN KUALITI PENGAJARAN DAN PEMBELAJARAN

The involvement of lecturers in implementing innovation in order to improve the quality of teaching and learning is deemed vital in reviewing the level of motivation and technology in educational institutions. This study aims to determine the level of motivation among POLIMAS lecturers’ involvement in teaching and learning training innovation. This study is conducted to aid lecturers in the diversification of technology in teaching and learning by using appropriate technologies. A survey was conducted in order to improve the rate of motivation among lecturers by creating technology facilitated learning environment

Factor of active participation engineering and technical student-athletes in co-curricular activities (Sport)

Active participation among engineering and technical student- athletes in co-curricular activities is viewed from different side which is some of them were represent national, universities, faculties in sporting event. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to examine the factors that encourage active participation student participation in co-curricular activities (sports) among engineering and technical students of University Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) who are participate actively in co-curricular activities (sports). Identifying the factors and perception of active participation engineering and technical student- athletes in co-curricular activities (sports) are the main focus on this study. Quantitative research design by using survey were approach on this study. Survey were conducted into two hundred and thirteen student of engineering and technical student-athletes UTHM who are participate actively in co-curricular activities (sports). Findings shows student- athletes agreed that interpersonal, intrapersonal and structural factors are the reason why they involve in co-curricular (sports) activities. These findings could help the university to create active participation environment among engineering and technical student- athletes in co-curricular activities (sports) and at the same time help on producing student-athletes who are able represent university and also national at international levels

TEAL application in training TVET graduates to solve the unemployment problem

In today’s job market, graduates are expected to have various types of knowledge and skills related to the jobs applied for. Employers prefer graduates equipped with knowledge in practical technology so that they can help improve the product or management quality of the company. This study focuses on the issues and problems of TVET graduates in securing employment in the industrial sector. This study utilised semi-structured interviews as an instrument to collect the relevant information. The respondents were and are experts in the fields of engineering and technology. The interviews were conducted to identify the relevant terms in the application of Technology Enabled/Enhanced Active Learning (TEAL) so that the institutions can use the information to produce graduates that meet the requirements of the industry. Recordings of the interview sessions were transcribed; issues and problems were then identified. The results of the analyses show that employers in the industry today need quality graduates who possess practical knowledge and skills applicable to the real work in the industrial sector

Impact of Community Engagement on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): The Global Goals to Local Implementation

The All-Party Parliamentary Group Malaysia - Sustainable Development Goals (APPGM-SDG) is a bipartisan initiative under the Parliament of Malaysia to implement and promote Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Malaysia. The SDGs projects in Malaysia were held through Non-Governmental Organization or the Civil Society Organization alliance with the purpose of raising awareness about the SDGs as well as providing capacity building projects that can give greater impacts on social, economy and wellbeing among Malaysian citizens. The main objective of SDGs projects is to analyse the impacts on SDGs in relations to targets and indicators from solutions providers. The Mixed Methods methodology were used in this project by integrating qualitative and quantitative analysis to discover solution providers expertise in delivering capacity building trainings and beneficiaries outcomes in terms of personal, skills, network, system, SDGs projects and gender constructs. The selected locations within Johor Parliamentary Constituency covered eight SDGs projects associated with community engagement context especially in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). In addition, the effectiveness of the SDGs projects was measured based on project planning, feasibility and implementation, the main parameters that influence the performance and quality of the SDGs projects by the solution providers. The findings showed the most substantial constructs that influence the greater impact of the SDGs projects to the beneficiaries were personal and technical skills. The lessons to be drawn from the experiences of the selected projects, among others are how effective the SDGs project can helped improve the household income, increased community engagement, and enhanced general well-being in overall

Fleiss's Kappa: Assessing the Concept of Technology Enabled Active Learning (TEAL)

Technology Enabled Active Learning (TEAL) is a platform to produce a quality student and improve their academic performance, promotes skills development and increases satisfaction in the learning experience. TEAL also promote marketability skill using technology to become excellent workers in industries. Many researchers have found that concept of TEAL need to be apply in education in order to give chance for student to explore their own studies using technology in a few approach learning (i.e., online, blended, collaborative, practical and interactive learning). Nevertheless, several studies have reported that TEAL is effective approach to make sure student active to join the own activities class to complete their studies. Based on previous findings, five categories of TEAL were identified. This study identifies the important elements of TEAL needs in active learning among assessor's agreement. The aim is to measure the interrater reliability between five (5) assessors of stakeholder in academic fields. This study measures assessor's agreement by using Fleiss's Kappa statistical method. The results show that all assessors agreed with 47 elements in each of construct and 12 elements that do not agree by them. In conclusion, the study recommends the application of TEAL needs in teaching and learning (TnL) process to implement active learning, that more focus on student involve in activity lesson by using technological equipment for generate their knowledge, skill and understanding in their fields. Findings from this study show that all assessors agreed with all of the categories which is suitable for elements of TEAL

Study on issues of 21st century skills for students of technical and vocational education

21st century skills should be in line with the transformation of technical and vocational education to produce graduates of quality, knowledge and skills in today's technological development. The purpose of this study is to look at issues in educational institutions for students of technical and vocational education. Instruments used in this study were semi-structured interviews. Respondents for this study are from ministries, academics and industry. The interview was conducted to look into the issue of the 21st century skills of technical and vocational education students. The issues with the 21st century skills for students of technical and vocational education has to be identified in order to improve the current technical and vocational education. There are four issues had been identified which are knowledge, skills, technology and attitude. These issues need to be taken into light to improve the future graduates and current students of Technical and Vocational Education. This is important because the industry needs high quality technical and vocational graduates in terms of knowledge and skills that are high before stepping into the workplace

Reliability and validity of instrument on academic enhancement support for student-athlete using rasch measurement model

The purpose of this article is to develop and validate an instrument on Academic Enhancement Support for Malaysian student-athletes. The instrument development process began earlier in previous research's stages. Thirty-five questionnaires were distributed to Malaysia Public University student-athletes who competed at the university and state levels. It took a week to collect data, with a 100% return rate and one damaged questionnaire removed. Winstep version 3.69.1.11 was used to conduct three analyses: item-person reliability and separation index, statistical fit, and standardised residual correlation for item dependent. Cronbach's alpha of 0.96 indicates high reliability, with all items displaying a positive value for item polarity. Thirty items were identified as being misfit, five of which were removed and fifteen of which were revised. In the final analysis, ten pairs of items were dictated to be redundant, and ten items were eliminated following selection. In total, 15 items were removed from the instrument, leaving 82 items in the validated version. In conclusion, the instrument developed is a valid instrument capable of validating the student-perception athlete's of the support necessary for academic advancement during actual study