The Relationship Between Workplace Spirituality and Work‑to‑Family Enrichment in Selected Public Sector Organizations in Malaysia

Workplace spirituality (WPS) has been associated with various benefts, including its potential to reduce work–family confict. Previous studies have established that individual religiosity infuences work–family enrichment. To date, there has been no reliable evidence on the relationship between WPS and work-to-family enrichment (WFE). Hence, the present research aimed to identify the relationship between the three components of WPS, namely inner life, meaningful work, and sense of community and WFE among employees of the public sector in Malaysia. In this study, data collection was conducted using questionnaires that were distributed to two public organizations, which managed to receive a total of 81% response rate. The results were in line with past studies, which indicated a signifcant and positive relationship between workplace spirituality dimensions (inner life, meaningful work, and sense of community) and WFE. The signifcant infuence of the sense of community toward WFE is believed to be caused by the collectivist culture of Malaysians. Therefore, the aspect of community must be taken into consideration in order to increase work–family enrichment among employees, particularly in the context of religious and collectivist society

Interventions on Improving Medication Adherence in Malaysia: A Mini Review

Medication non-adherence is a global issue. Past review on the interventions to improve medication adherence provided little practical implications for healthcare professionals and policy makers in Malaysia, due to the substantive differences across studies. Hence, this review attempted to evaluate the interventions on improving medication adherence conducted in Malaysia, to generate some insights and recommendations for future interventions. Method: Search of past literatures from Google Scholar, PubMed, MEDLINE, EBSCO, PsycINFO, CINAHL (via EBSCO) with search strategy: “medication adherence or medication compliance” [Mesh] AND “intervention” [Mesh] AND “Malaysia” AND English [lang- Lang] was conducted on September 28, 2016. The framework of judging methodological quality used by Zwikker and colleagues was employed. Results and Discussion: A total of 28 articles were identified. Studies which were not conducted using Malaysia population, not measuring medication adherence, without intervention on medication adherence, non-prospective and non-experimental design were omitted. Hence, 9 articles were retained for further evaluation. Eight out of the nine prospective randomized controlled studies were found to be low-quality studies. Overall, interventions that were pharmacist led, physician led, adoption of automated text messaging reminder and improvised medication labelling were found to be effective. Conclusion: This review provides valuable insights on contemporary interventions to improve medication adherence conducted in Malaysia. It is suggested that multifaceted approach with involvement of different healthcare professionals should be encouraged to synergize the strengths of each profession and to further enhance the effectiveness of interventions

Whole School Approach on Social and Emotional Guidance among Rural Elementary Schools : Regular Teachers’ Involvement

This study explored the implementation of the whole school approach (WSA) on social and emotional guidance (SEG) in rural primary schools in Sarawak, Malaysia. Regular teachers (N = 2,532) in Sarawak responded to an electronic survey. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the socio-emotional guidance model were employed to explore the level of implementing the WSA on SEG among the respondents. Factors affecting the intention to be involved in SEG were also explored. This paper provides insights for policymakers and educational administrators to promote the social and emotional well-being of rural students in a developing country

Teacher’s Engagement in the Social and Emotional Guidance ofElementary School Students

The present study aims to explore the criteria which motivate and prevent teachers from engaging in the social and emotional guidance of rural elementary school students in Malaysia. Face-to-face in-depth interviews were conducted with 25 teachers using purposive sampling technique and they are from 15 rural primary schools within the Sarawak state of Malaysia. While emerging themes for motivations are teachers’ task perception, colleagues’ support, students’ family support, and teachers’ professionalization, barriers include burdensome workloads and time constraints. The results are discussed to provide insights for policymakers and educational administrators on the development of a whole-school approach that aims to promote the social and emotional well being of rural students in a developing country

Selective deletion of PPARβ/δ in fibroblasts causes dermal fibrosis by attenuated LRG1 expression.

Connective tissue diseases of the skin are characterized by excessive collagen deposition in the skin and internal organs. Fibroblasts play a pivotal role in the clinical presentation of these conditions. Nuclear receptor peroxisome-proliferator activated receptors (PPARs) are therapeutic targets for dermal fibrosis, but the contribution of the different PPAR subtypes are poorly understood. Particularly, the role of fibroblast PPARβ/δ in dermal fibrosis has not been elucidated. Thus, we generated a mouse strain with selective deletion of PPARβ/δ in the fibroblast (FSPCre- <i>Pparb/d</i> <sup>-/-</sup> ) and interrogated its epidermal and dermal transcriptome profiles. We uncovered a downregulated gene, leucine-rich alpha-2-glycoprotein-1 ( <i>Lrg1</i> ), of previously unknown function in skin development and architecture. Our findings suggest that the regulation of <i>Lrg1</i> by PPARβ/δ in fibroblasts is an important signaling conduit integrating PPARβ/δ and TGFβ1-signaling networks in skin health and disease. Thus, the FSPCre- <i>Pparb/d</i> <sup>-/-</sup> mouse model could serve as a novel tool in the current gunnery of animal models to better understand dermal fibrosis

Studies on copper-catalyzed aerobic molecular transformation with heteroatom radicals

Copper-catalyzed oxidation chemistry using oxygen as the oxidant has been widely studied and employed in various types of powerful molecular transformations. Not only does oxygen maintain catalytic turnover of copper catalyst, but also allow oxygenation of organic substrates. In this thesis, three types of molecular transformations involving heteroatom radicals generated from Af-H-imines, organohydroperoxides and A-hydroxyphthalimide under copper- catalyzed aerobic reaction conditions have been developed. In the first transformation, azaspirocyclohexadienones were synthesized via intramolecular i^>so-spirocyclization of iminyl radicals derived from biaryl-A-H imines with the benzene rings under copper-catalyzed aerobic reaction conditions (Scheme la). Under similar reaction conditions, an unexpected oxospirocyclohexadienone formation from biaryl-2-methane carbonitriles via P-carbon fragmentation of the corresponding iminyl radicals was also discovered (Scheme lb). In the second transformation, organohydroperoxides were exploited for the generation of alkoxy-radical species under copper-catalyzed aerobic conditions to perform l,5-H radical shift on aliphatic C-H bonds. The resulting carbon radical was successfully oxygenated by molecular oxygen, affording l,4-diols via aliphatic C-H bond oxygenation (Scheme 2). With the utility of iV-hydroxyphthalimide (NHPI), a similar strategy was applied to the direct 1,4-dioxygenation of alkanes. The third transformation in this thesis involved the investigation of aerobic copper- catalyzed NHPI-mediated synthesis of lactones from the corresponding lactols through radical- mediated C-C bond cleavage. During this process, NHPI was oxidized to phthalimide N-oxy radicals under copper-catalyzed aerobic reaction conditions, which was found to be responsible for the unsaturation and methyl group cleavage.DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (SPMS

An experimental and simulation study of chip transportation behaviour in gundrilling

Gundrilling is a machining process to produce deep holes with length to diameter ratios greater than 10. The material removed by the gun drill known as chips have to be evacuated from the cutting zone as fast as possible, in order to prevent the chip clogging. The failure in chip evacuation will lead to intense thermal and mechanical loading. To improve chips evacuation, a thorough understanding of coolant flow characteristics and chip transportation behaviour is necessary. This project aimed to quantify these characteristics and behaviour via experiments and computational fluids dynamics (CFD) simulation study. Studies of the chips flow behaviours in different concentration of fluids were carried out through drop test experiments. The experiments were conducted in vertical square tube filled with the water-glycerine solutions which have properties similar to the coolant properties with concentration of 85 % oil to 5 % oil. From the experiments, terminal velocities of typical gun drill chips at different range of particle Reynolds number were determined to construct the unique drag curve. Based on the findings, a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) numerical model was developed to predict the lateral drag forces with respect to the particle Reynolds number. The simulated results showed good agreement with the experimental findings. With that, the CFD model was then applied to analyse the coolant and chip flow trajectories in the actual gun drill. The chip motions were determined based on the combination of CFD simulation and mathematical calculation. Coefficients of restitution as required to determine the rebound velocities after the chip collide to the wall were obtained via calibration against the experimental data. With that, detailed evaluation on the effects of drill geometries including coolant hole configuration, nose angles and shoulder dub-off angles were conducted. In the analysis, coolant streamlines and pressure drop profiles from the coolant supply to the rake face cutting zone were presented. Extensive set of gundrilling experiments for commercial gun drill designs were conducted, it was found that the tool life of gun drills corresponds with the effectiveness of coolant and chip evacuation. Based on the CFD analysis and experimental results, a new gun drill design that performs better than most commercial design was proposed.Master of Engineering (MAE