Effectiveness of learning transfer in National Dual Training System (NDTS)

Learning transfer is the ultimate goal of any training programme. The new Malaysian skills training is based on the dual learning principle in which trainees alternate between attending theoretical classes in the skills training institute and receiving on�the-job training at worksite. This new paradigm of skills training is better known as National Dual Training System (NDTS). The main problem is that there were complaints from the employers that the competencies of the output of the skills training in Malaysia are of poor quality. This was due to low absorption of learning transfer performance from training places to workplace. Apart from that there were little studies related to the effectiveness of learning transfer due to there is no acceptable way and mean to measure the learning transfer. The aim of this study was to ascertain on whether the effectiveness of learning transfer did occurred in the automotive mechatronics of NDTS programme. The research focus area is the Mechatronics Automotive course. A longitudinal study method was employed as the research methodology. The participants of this research were the trainees and coaches from NDTS Mechatronics Automotive course. The study utilised the self�administered questionnaire, semi-structured interview, focus group and case study. Measuring 16 factors of the Learning Transfer System Inventory (LTSI) plus 3 factors derived from literature review and expert group discussion enable the researcher to determine the relationship between the learning transfer factors. It was found that NDTS training programme appears to have facilitated the positive transfer and near transfer from training situation to workplace environment. The findings of multiple regressions result suggest that the predictive variables explained 43.9% variance that has significance effect on the effectiveness of learning transfer. Apparently, the most influential dimensions of the effectiveness of learning transfer in NDTS were revealed as the course content, training delivery and working tasks. Interestingly, result indicated that the effectiveness of learning transfer in NDTS had occurred by the overall framework accuracy percentage of 79.2%. Therefore, the emerging effectiveness of learning transfer framework of NDTS in Malaysia is propose

Kajian motivasi terhadap pelajar kolej vokasional dalam melaksanakan kerja-kerja kemahiran teknikal

Motivasi merupakan elemen psikologi yang amat penting sebagai penggerak kepada seseorang individu untuk melakukan sesuatu.Oleh itu, kajian ini dijalankan bertujuan untuk mengukur tahap dan mengenalpasti perbezaaan yang signifikan bagi motivasi intrinsik dan ekstrinsik ke atas pelajar Kolej Vokasional Kluang dalam melaksanakan kerja-kerja kemahiran teknikal. Selain itu, kajian ini juga secara langsung dapat menyingkap sejauh mana sambutan pelajar lepasan Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) untuk mengikuti pengajian di kolej vokasional dan keberkesanan transformasi pendidikan melalui pengstrukturan semula sistem pendidikan Sekolah Menengah Vokasional kepada Kolej Vokasional. Seramai 148 pelajar Sijil Kemahiran Malaysia (SKM) tahap 1 semester 2 Kolej Vokasional Kluang yang mengambil jurusan teknikal merangkumi 7 kursus pengajian dipilih sebagai respondan. Instrumen kajian menggunakan set borang soal selidik. Rekabentuk kajian adalah jenis kajian kes melalui pendekatan secara kuantitatif. Kajian ini melibatkan analisis statistik secara deskriptif dan inferensi menggunakan perisian “Statistical Package for Science Social” (SPSS) versi 21. Keputusan analisis dapatan menunjukkan motivasi intrinsik pada tahap yang tinggi di mana nilai min bersamaan 4.28 yang merangkumi faktor-faktor seperti keperluan, minat, ingin tahu, dan keseronokan manakala motivasi ekstrinsik pada tahap yang sederhana iaitu nilai min 2.90 yang mana merangkumi faktor-faktor seperti ganjaran, tekanan sosial dan hukuman. Selain itu, keputusan mendapati tidak terdapat perbezaan yang signifikan bagi motivasi intrinsik dan ekstrinsik pelajar dalam melaksanakan kerja-kerja kemahiran teknikal mengikut jantina (intrinsik, =0.97, ekstrinsik, =0.23) dan kursus pengajian(intrinsik, =0.98, ekstrinsik, =0.50) yang mana ( > 0.05). Sebagai kesimpulannya, motivasi intrinsik lebih berpengaruh berbanding motivasi ekstrinsik kerana pelajar lebih didorong oleh faktor dalaman berbanding faktor luaran sebagai penggerak untuk melaksanakan kerja-kerja kemahiran teknikal

Fabrication and characterisation of sandwich composites of glass fiber skin and polyurethane foamreinforced coconut coir fiber core

Kajian ini tertumpu kepada fabrikasi dan perincian ke atas komposit sandwic berpermukaan komposit gentian kaca dan berteras busa poliuretana yang diperkuat gentian sabut kelapa. Objektif utama kajian ini adalah mengkaji sifat – sifat fizikal dan mekanikal komposit sandwic dan menjelaskan kesan penggunaan gentian sabut kelapa keatas busa poliuretana dan panel komposit sandwic. Panel komposit sandwic terdiri dari dua bahagian, iaitu permukaan komposit gentian kaca yang dihasilkan melalui proses pengacuanan tekanan dan teras busa poliuretana yang dihasilkan melalui kaedah pengacuanan berputar. Kedua – dua bahagian ini disatukan menggunakan perekat epoksi pada tekanan 100 KPa. Gentian sabut kelapa digunakan untuk memperkuat busa poliuretana yang akan digunakan sebagai teras komposit sandwich. Peratusan berat gentian sabut kelapa yang digunakan adalah daripada 5%berat sehingga 20 %berat. Dari kajian yang dijalankan, didapati bahawa penggunaan gentian sabut kelapa telah meningkatkan prestasi sifat teras poliuretana dan komposit sandwic. Sifat – sifat fizikal dan mekanikal teras busa poliuretana dan komposit sandwic mencapai peningkatan optimum pada 5 %berat gentian sabut kelapa. Walaubagaimanapun sumbangan gentian sabut kelapa terhadap peningkatan prestasi hanya terhad pada 5 %berat kerana prestasi sifat mekanikal bahan menurun apabila melepasi komposisi ini. Ketumpatan komposit sandwic menurun sebanyak 32.41% pada komposisi 5 %berat gentian sabut kelapa yang mana mempunyai ketumpatan yang rendah dan menyumbang kepada penghasilan panel bahan yang ringan. Daya maksimum, tegasan ricih, dan modulus bagi komposit sandwic menunjukkan peningkatan masing – masing sebanyak 12.69%, 29.46% dan 12.97% pada peratusan gentian sabut kelapa 5 %berat. Ini menunjukkan bahawa sifat – sifat komposit sandwic dapat dipertingkatkan dengan peranan penguat didalam busa poliuretana yang menahan tegasan ricih secara melintang

Performance of composite sand cement brick containing recycled concrete aggregate and waste polyethylene terepthalate

The reuse and recycling of waste materials from construction and demolition waste is one of the new concepts for brick manufacturing production. Construction and demolition debris refers to waste materials that result from the construction, renovation and demolition of buildings. Bricks are an important material for developing areas where manufacturers find it difficult to locate adequate sources due to the shortage of natural aggregate supply. Construction waste can be recycled to replace naturals resource or other competitive materials. This study aims to establish the sustainable properties for composite bricks using Recycle Concrete Aggregate (RCA) and Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) waste bottles as sand aggregate replacement. RCA was obtained from crushed laboratory concrete cubes while PET bottles were collected around UTHM and Parit Raja areas. The objectives of this study are to determine the optimum cement-sand ratio (1:5, 1:6 and 1:7) for composite brick through density, compressive strength and water absorption tests, to investigate the mechanical properties and durability of composite sand cement bricks through shrinkage and carbonation tests, and to identify the optimum percentages of RCA and PET as sand aggregate replacement in composite bricks. For this study, the brick specimens were prepared using 25%, 50% and 75% of RCA and 1.0%, 1.5%, 2.0% and 2.5% of PET by volume of natural sand with a water-cement ratio of 0.6. The size of the RCA used measured less than 5 mm. Moreover, the size of the sieved waste PET granules was between 0.1 to 5 mm which made it physically similar to the size of fine aggregates. The bricks were cast in moulds measuring 215 mm in length, 103 mm in width, and 65 mm in depth. Three types of sand-cement ratios were used, namely 1:5, 1:6 and 1:7. The first stage of the study was the determination of the best sand-cement ratio through density, water absorption and compressive strength tests. The next stage was the determination of the optimum percentages of RCA and PET according to the shrinkage and carbonation tests. The overall results revealed that the best cement-sand ratio was 1:6. The density test indicates that the average density of composite bricks is lower compared to that of control bricks. The cement-sand ratio of 1:6 was the optimum value for all sample bricks. In addition, the percentage of water absorption for composite bricks was found to be satisfactory. It can be concluded that the optimal replacement of RCA and PET was R25P1 with a cement-sand ratio of 1:6 as it achieved the lowest values during the drying shrinkage and carbonation tests

Stabilisation and solidification of contaminated soil using cement and sugarcane bagasse ash (SCBA)

Soil that is contaminated with heavy metals has become a major issue worldwide. However, proper remediation techniques such as stabilisation/solidification (S/S) method can be employed and is capable of controlling these heavy metals. Conventionally, the common S/S method used cement as binder on remediating the contaminated soil particularly heavy metals. This research is to investigate the effect of physical and leachability of contaminated soil in S/S method when Sugarcane Bagasse Ash (SCBA) is added to remedy contaminated soil. Landfill contaminated soil was used to test the effectiveness of those binder. Cement was added at a proportion of 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% in sample weights without SCBA while in another sample; the cement was replaced by SCBA at a proportion of 2.5%, 5%, 7.5% and 10%. All samples are to be allowed to harden and cured at room temperature for 7, 14 and 28 days. The effectiveness of the treatment was assessing by conducting physical testing such as Unconfined Compression Strength, Water Absorption and Permeability test. In addition, leaching tests were performed to identify the leachate behavior of heavy metals during treatment. Three leaching tests were conducted and they were the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP), Synthetic Precipitation Leaching Procedure (SPLP) and Dynamic Leaching Test (DLT). Through the physical testing, samples containing 10% OPC mixed with 10% SCBA were found to improve the compressive strength, reduced the water absorption and water permeability measuring 1550 MPa, 17.94% and 4.41 x 10 -10 m/s respectively. In the same way, through the statistical analysis, the R-squared for UCS with respect to mixed design is high at 98%. However, the value for both water absorption and permeability recorded to be marginally low, compared to the value for strength at 89% and 88% respectively. Through the TCLP and SPLP test, results indicated that when SCBA added to OPC content in soil samples, less heavy metal been leached out from the S/S sample. In average, the satisfying result was shown by samples containing 10% OPC + 10% SCBA where reduction of heavy metals in final leachate is more than 90% for As, Cd, Cr, Pb and Zn. Through the Dynamic Leaching Test, sample containing 10% OPC +10% SCBA showed the satisfactory leachability index (Lx) at 9.17, 9.17, 8.81, 8.17 and 6.97 for As, Cd, Cr, Pb and Zn respectively. This indicates that the use of cement and SCBA as a binder was successful in remediating the contaminated soils through the S/S method