Analisis trend dan pola keruangan kemalangan maut jalan raya di Malaysia : kajian kes di Daerah Timur Laut, Pulau Pinang

Kecederaan akibat daripada kemalangan jalan raya merupakan antara pembunuh utama di dunia selepas penyakit kronik seperti penyakit jantung, strok, jangkitan paru-paru dan kesukaran pernafasan. Di Malaysia, jumlah kematian akibat kemalangan jalan raya telah meningkat sebanyak 70% .Kajian ini menganalisis kemalangan maut bagi semua jenis kenderaan di Daerah Timur Laut, Pulau Pinang berdasarkan data kemalangan maut bagi tempoh tiga tahun 2011-2013. Ia juga menganalisis trend serta taburan dan corak keruangan kemalangan maut dengan bantuan perisian Sistem Maklumat Geografi (GIS). Data dianalisis dengan menggunakan kaedah purata kejiranan terdekat (ANN). Hasil kajian mendapati kadar kemalangan maut di daerah Timur Laut bagi tahun 2011, 2012 dan 2013 adalah tinggi (masing-masing 90, 88 dan 91 kes). Trend menunjukkan bahawa kadar kemalangan maut yang paling tinggi berlaku dalam kawasan sempadan Balai Polis Jelutong manakala yang paling rendah adalah dalam kawasan sempadan Balai Polis Komuniti Taman Desa Permai. Hasil kajian juga menunjukkan bahawa taburan kemalangan maut adalah paling tinggi di jalan-jalan utama, iaitu Jalan Air Hitam, Lebuhraya Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu dan Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah. Hasil analisis ANN pula menunjukkan bahawa corak kemalangan maut bagi tahun 2011, 2012 dan 2013 adalah secara berkelompok dengan penolakan hipotesis null. Kesimpulannya, kemalangan jalan raya lebih tertumpu dan berkelompok di sesuatu kawasan tertentu disebabkan oleh perbezaan dari segi struktur fizikal jalan raya, jumlah trafik dan kepentingan jalan tersebut kepada pengguna di kawasan sekitarnya

Non-audit Services, Audit Firm Tenure And Earnings Management In Malaysia

The main objective of this study is to investigate the association of auditor-provided nonaudit services and audit firm tenure with earnings management in Malaysian public listed firms. Two measurements, namely, discretionary current accruals based on the performance-adjusted model developed by Ashbaugh, LaFond and Mayhew (2003) and discretionary total accruals based on the modified Jones model (1991), are employed to estimate the level of earnings management. Our sample consists of 525 companies for financial year 2009. The results suggest that longer audit firm tenure reduces earnings management. However, the magnitude of non-audit fees exacerbates earnings management. Based on the empirical evidence, any attempt to legislate audit firm rotation in Malaysia is unwarranted. Further research is required to move toward a policy resolution on the restriction of non-audit services in Malaysia

Polyamines Regulate Chilling Response in Ripening Tomato Fruits by De Novo Transcription

Plants response to various abiotic stress, including chilling injury, by differentially regulating genes responsible for protection against these stresses. Polyamines (PAs); putrescine (Put), spermidine (Spd), and spermine (Spm), are ubiquitous metabolite in all organisms and have been implicated in abiotic stresses in plants. Dr. Handa laboratory has previously developed high Spd/Spm tomato fruits genotypes by expressing yeast S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase (SAMDC). In present investigation, the role of Spd/Spm in chilling injury was evaluated by using two independent transgenic lines with high Spd/Spm (556 and 579) and isogenic parental Ohio 8245 (WT) genotypes. Fruits at onset of ripening (Breaker, BR) and fully ripe (Breaker+8 days, BR+8) from both transgenic lines and WT were subjected to chilling by storing at 5°C or 8ºC. Results showed that the 556 and 579 fruits exhibit more chilling tolerance phenotype at BR+8 stage but performed poorly at BR stage compared to WT fruit. RNA-seq analyses of transcriptome showed differential expression of a large number of genes in response to chilling treatment of high Spd/Spm fruit compared to WT fruit, which suggesting a significant effect of PAs in chilling response mechanism. PAs are implicated in regulating genes related to redox homeostasis (Thioredoxin family protein), stress signaling pathway (MAPK cascade), various cold responsive genes, protein chaperon (heat shock proteins) and cellular antioxidant system (CAT, SOD and APX). It can be postulated that, being positive charged molecules, PAs bind to DNA, RNA and transcription factors and differentially regulate expression of genes associated with chilling tolerance in ripened fruits that help acclimate fruits to sub optimal chilling temperature

A descriptive analysis of financial restatements in Malaysia / Ameen Qasem, Norhani Aripin and Wan Nordin Wan Hussin

This study provides an overview of the issue of financial restatements among Malaysian public listed companies by investigating the trend and reasons for financial restatements for the period beginning 2005 through to 2014. Based on the Thompson Reuters DataStream database which provides restatement data for 915 Malaysian companies (9,150 company-year observations), detailed analysis shows that there is a total of 1,945 (21.26%) restatements occurring during the period. The highest number of restatement occurrences was in 2010 with 342 cases (17.58%) while the lowest was in 2008 with 41 cases (2.11%). The majority of restatement cases occurred due to changes in accounting policies with more than 75% of financial restatement cases found within four sectors: industrial products, trading and services, consumer products, and technology. The results of the study will be useful to regulating bodies such as Bursa Malaysia, Securities Commission and Malaysian Accounting Standard Board in as much as they highlight the trend and reasons for financial restatements among Malaysian public listed companies. Further investigation could be conducted for companies that regularly change their accounting policie

GEZ petrol station: Using cost-volume-profit analysis for planning

As an Area Manager of GEZ Bhd, a major oil company in Malaysia, in 2010, Mr Aiman was responsible for directing the sales activities of more than twenty petrol stations in the northern region of Malaysia.He was also responsible to train petrol station dealers and staff, initiate sales promotion and implement key initiatives to improve sales. Despite being a stable business with continuous increase in vehicles, often times, petrol station operators faced with the difficulty of sustaining the business, leading to the termination of the dealership license.The lack of knowledge in finance and costing, among others, contributed to business failures.Realising the importance of management accounting concepts and tools such as cost allocation and CVP analysis, Mr Aiman believed that the dealers and their relevant staff should have the knowledge in cost accounting.They should be able to differentiate between variable and fixed expenses, prepare a financial statement and perform a cost-volume-profit (CVP) analysis.To help the dealers perform the CVP analysis, an understanding of how to build and use a financial model associated with the analysis is an added advantage.In coming up with the data and building the financial model, Mr Aiman sought the assistance of Rizal, a trained management accountant

Transformational leadership style and job satisfaction relationship: A study of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)

The objective of the study was to empirically investigate the relationships between transformational leadership style proxied by charismatic or inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration with job satisfaction.100 respondents from an academic institution in Malaysia had voluntarily participated in the study.The data was analyzed by means of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using SPSS Amos software.The revised structural equation modeling (SEM) for relationship between transformational leadership style and job satisfaction passed goodness-of-fit (GOF) tests with near perfect results for absolute and incremental fit measures(chi square to degree of freedom 1.004; p-value 0.469; RMSEA0.006; and comparative fit index (CFI) 1.000).However, only two out of the three dimensions of leadership were having significant relationships with job satisfaction.Positive relationship existed between intellectual stimulation and job satisfaction, while individual consideration was negatively related.The result also revealed that leadership was an insignificant mediator in the relationships between charismatic, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration with job satisfaction

Gua Lubang Kelawar Batu Tambah, Hulu Kelantan: tinggalan petempatan manusia

Gua Lubang Kelawar Batu Tambah merupakan sebuah tapak prasejarah yang terletak berhampiran dengan perkampungan orang asli di kawasan Hulu Kelantan. Tapak ini dikenalpasti sebagai sebuah tapak yang berpotensi sewaktu tinjauan awal yang dilakukan oleh Prof. Madya Dr. Zuliskandar Ramli dan pelajar sarjana dari Institut Alam dan Tamadun Melayu (ATMA) Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) pada bulan Disember 2016. Kajian ini dilakukan bertujuan untuk meneliti persekitaran dengan jumpaan artifak di gua tersebut. Kaedah yang digunakan dalam kajian ini lebih berfokus kepada kaedah ekskavasi arkeologi yang berasaskan kepada sistem grid. Fokus kajian ini ialah berkaitan dengan jumpaan artifak, ekofak serta lukisan gua yang menjadi bukti kepada penempatan masyarakat prasejarah dan masyarakat orang asli di Gua Lubang Kelawar Batu Tambah. Artifak yang ditemui ialah alat batu seperti kapak, batu pelandas, pengikis, alat penetak, pahat, batu pemukul dan puingan serta jumpaan pecahan tembikar tanah yang tidak bermotif serta yang bermotif cord mark. Penemuan ekofak yang dipercayai sebagai sisa makanan pula ialah seperti cangkerang siput dan tulang haiwan serta penemuan lukisan gua yang bermotif antropomorfik, zoomorfik, flora dan abstrak. Dengan adanya jumpaan artifak, ekofak dan lukisan gua telah menjadi bukti bahawa Gua Lubang Kelawar Batu Tambah pernah digunakan oleh masyarakat prasejarah serta turut digunakan oleh masyarakat orang asli

Solving New Student Allocation Problem (NSAP) with Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP)

There are many approaches used to solve New Student Allocation Problem (NSAP). Many researchers use application of Genetic Algorithm (GA). However, the study presented in this paper applies an Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP)technique in solving New Student Allocation Problem (NSAP) handled by Registration Unit at Ungku Omar Polytechnic. The problem is the students are allocated to their class randomly, just by using their registration number and by all means without referring to their intelligence level, knowledge, skills and also their performance. So, in this paper the researcher’s focus is on solving NSAP by using AHP to allocate students into their respective classes with minimum intelligence gap in each class and the number of students in each class does not exceed its maximum capacity. The proposed solution will be tested using real data from the Politeknik Ungku Omar to see the result

The impact of family-firm structure and board composition on corporate transparency: Evidence based on segment disclosures in Malaysia

The aim of this study is to contribute to the growing literature on the quality of accounting disclosures by family firms by investigating whether the alignment (entrenchment) effect leads to high (low) corporate transparency. Unlike previous studies, this study also examines the relationship between board composition and corporate transparency by distinguishing between the two types of nonexecutive directors, namely independent and affiliated directors. Using the enhanced segment disclosures by Malaysian firms in 2001/2002 as a proxy of corporate transparency, the results indicate that family firms are more inclined to disclose all the required items for the primary basis of segment reporting, consistent with Ali, Chen, and Radhakrishnan (2007) and Wang (2006). The result also indicates that firms with higher proportion of affiliated directors are more likely to make greater segment disclosures. However, no evidence is found to support the contention that independent directors and institutional investors promote corporate transparency, consistent with previous Malaysian studies