The discourses of doing science in English

In January 2003, Malaysia re-adopted the English language as a medium of instruction for science and mathematics. This change in the medium of instruction brings with it challenges of its own. What does it mean to 'do' science in the Malaysian context and to do so in English? How does the change in the medium of instruction from Bahasa Malaysia to English impinge upon current instructional and literacy practicesof teachers and learners? What kinds of change are required of the community that is invested in the teaching of science? This paper will address these questions by troubling some common-sense assumptions of 'doing' science in the Malaysian context in the light of findings of a qualitative case study conducted to investigate how one two teachers working in different contexts in a Malaysian school copes with the new medium of instruction and the myriad of issues that come with it

What Do Malaysians Think of America and Its Foreign Policy Post 9/11?

The study aims to understand the overall perceptions among Malaysians concerning America in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, with a special focus on the Gulf issues, i.e. the issue of terrorism, the issue of Israel versus Palestine and Lebanon, the issue of Iraq and the issue of Iran’s nuclear-arms programme. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were used in the study. Results of the quantitative analysis express a prominent difference between Malays and other races on every issue, with Malays having less liberal perceptions towards America than other races. The results show that most participants do not blame the American people but put the responsibility on the American government. The qualitative analysis reveals that media does influence the perceptions of the participants towards America. It also illustrates that the participants are aware and discontented with the issues that are going on in Gulf countries. The overall research findings strongly indicate that the Malaysian perception towards the American government and its foreign policy are currently unfavourable

Estimation of uncertainty from method validation data: application to a reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography method for the determination of amino acids in gelatin using 6-aminoquinolyl-N-hydroxysuccinimidyl carbamate reagent

A detailed procedure for estimating uncertainty according to the Laboratory of Government Chemists/Valid Analytical Measurement (LGC/VAM) protocol for determination of 18 amino acids in gelatin is proposed. The expanded uncertainty was estimated using mainly the method validation data (precision and trueness). Other sources of uncertainties were contributed by components in standard preparation measurements. The method scope covered a single matrix (gelatin) under a wide range of analyte concentrations. The uncertainty of method precision, μ(P) was 0.0237–0.1128 pmol μl−1 in which hydroxyproline and histidine represented the lowest and highest values of uncertainties, respectively. Proline and phenylalanine represented the lowest and highest uncertainties value for method recovery, μ(R) that was estimated within 0.0064–0.0995 pmol μl−1. The uncertainties from other sources, μ(Std) were 0.0325, 0.0428 and 0.0413 pmol μl−1 that were contributed by hydroxyproline, other amino acids and cystine, respectively. Hydroxyproline and phenylalanine represented the lowest and highest values of expanded uncertainty, U(y) that were determined at 0.0949 and 0.2473 pmol μl−1, respectively. The data were accurately defined and fulfill the technical requirements of ISO 17025:2005

Islamic and modern science perspectives issues of animal plasma as a source of food additives in food products

Disposal of animal blood from slaughterhouses leads to high risk of water and land resources problem. Due of this concern, food scientists separated the plasma component and transformed into food additives that comprised with tremendous functional properties such as gelling agent, replacing fat and eggs function, emulsifier, binder agent and also has been used as an alternative supplement to boost up human’s immune system. This phenomenon is also witnessing emergence of leading key players who globalized animal plasma derivatives market around worldwide food industry. This has raised the concern among the Muslim consumers because consuming any blood and its derivatives are strictly prohibited in Islam mainly spilled out blood. Due to this restriction, modern science techniques are also crucial to detect the presence of animal plasma into food products as it is impossible to be detected through human’s naked eyes. Therefore, this paper is purposely written down to highlight Islamic and modern scientific perspectives on the issues of animal plasma as a source of food additives in food products. It is hoped this paper will be a good reference and motivates other researchers to do more research in the context of variety scope in future

The discourses and literacy practices of doing science in English

In January 2003, Malaysia re-adopted the English language as a medium of instruction for science and mathematics. This change in the medium of instruction brings with it challenges of its own. What does it mean to ‘do’ science in the Malaysian context and to do so in English? How does the change in the medium of instruction from Bahasa Malaysia to English impinge upon the instructional and literacy practices of teachers and learners? What kinds of changes are required of the communities and stakeholders involved in the teaching of science? This article will address these questions by critiquing some dominant assumptions behind the literacy practices of ‘doing’ science in the Malaysian context based upon the findings of a qualitative case study conducted to investigate how two teachers working in diverse and different contexts in Malaysian schools cope with the new medium of instructio

Analysis of collocations in the Iranian postgraduate students’ writings

It is widely acknowledged that collocations play an important role in second language learning, particularly at the intermediate and advanced levels. This study intended to explore the influence of first language (L1) and the cultural background of learners on the production of collocations. Thirty Iranian postgraduate students participated in this study and their academic writings were analyzed to determine the collocations they produced and to identify the basis for their difficulties in producing collocations. A focus group interview was used to determine the influence of L1 and cultural background of the learners on the production of collocations. The results showed that learners have difficulties with both lexical and grammatical collocations in their writing. First language influence appeared to have a strong effect on the learners’ production of collocation. In addition, as language and culture are not separable, the cultural difference between the first language and target language caused students to come up with odd and unacceptable lexical collocations from the perspective of native speakers. The results indicated that learners are often not aware of the collocations and are not able to control their collocation production

Konstruk personel pelajar dalam penulisan kertas projek cadangan penyelidikan

Kebanyakan program akademik di peringkat Sarjana Muda memerlukan para pelajar menulis kertas projek sebagai sebahagian daripada keperluan untuk mendapatkan segulung ijazah. Bagi memenuhi keperluan ini, para pelajar dikehendaki menulis satu kertas projek di antara 12,000 ke 100,000 patah perkataan bergantung kepada tahap keperluan ijazah dan keperluan setiap institusi pengajian. Kajian ini adalah berasaskan kajian konstruk penulisan akademik pelajar di peringkat Ijazah Sarjana Muda. Para pelajar yang terlibat dalam kajian ini terdiri daripada mereka yang sedang mengikuti Ijazah Sarjana Muda dalam Pengajian Bahasa Inggeris di institusi pengajian tinggi tempatan di Malaysia. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengenal pasti, sama ada pelajar yang telah didedahkan kepada metodologi kajian dan kursus penulisan akademik telah menggunakan konstruk personal sendiri atau konstruk tutor mereka dalam penulisan mereka. Teori konstruk personal telah diaplikasikan dalam kajian ini, menggunakan Grid Repertori dan temu bual bersama responden untuk mencari jawapan kepada persoalan yang dibincangkan

Pengaruh Sistem Pembelajaran Sepanjang Hayat terhadap Kompetensi Guru di Sekolah

Sistem Pembelajaran Sepanjang Hayat (PSH) merupakan satu proses pendemokrasian pendidikan yang merangkumi program-program dan usaha untuk meningkatkan ilmu pengetahuan, kemahiran dan nilai kendiri, sama ada secara formal atau pun tidak formal. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui sejauh mana pengaruh sistem PSH terhadap kompetensi guru di sekolah. Pengkaji ingin mengenalpasti kepekaan dan persepsi guru-guru terhadap sistem PSH, serta menghuraikan bagaimana sistem PSH ini mempengaruhi kompetensi guru-guru di sekolah. Metodologi kajian adalah secara deskriptif kuantitatif dan analisa terhadap hasil soal selidik bagi mendapatkan nilai kekerapan, peratus dan min. Kajian dijalankan terhadap sampel 461 orang responden merangkumi guru-guru di seluruh Malaysia yang dipilih secara rawak. Hasil kajian ini mendapati bahawa sistem PSH mempunyai pengaruh dan berkait rapat dengan kompetensi dan prestasi guru di sekolah. Hasil kajian ini boleh dimanfaatkan untuk menyedarkan golongan guru akan kepentingan melaksanakan sistem PSH dan kesannya terhadap perkembangan profesionalisme sektor perguruan negara pada masa hadapan. The Lifelong Learning System (PSH) is an educational democratization process that includes programs and efforts to improve knowledge, skills and self-worth, whether formally or informally. This study aims to find out the extent of the influence of the PSH system on teacher competence in schools. Researchers want to identify teachers' sensitivity and perception of the PSH system, as well as describe how this PSH system affects the competence of teachers in schools. The methodology of the study is descriptive quantitative and analysis of the results of the questionnaire to obtain the values of frequency, percentage and mean. The study was conducted on a sample of 461 respondents including teachers throughout Malaysia who were randomly selected. The results of this study found that the PSH system has an influence and is closely related to the competencies and performance of teachers in schools. The results of this study can be utilized to make teachers aware of the importance of implementing the PSH system and its impact on the development of professionalism of the national teaching sector in the future.   Keywords: Lifelong Learning (PSH), Teacher Competence, Linear Regression Analysi

Tahap Pemikiran Komputasional dan Hubungannya dengan Prestasi Akademik Pelajar PISMP di Sarawak

Computational Thinking is a process that involves formulating a problem and expressing its solutions(s) in such a way that a computer-human or machine-can effectively carry out. The recent focus on computational thinking as a 21st century key skill for all students has led to a number of curriculum initiatives to embed it in K-12 classrooms. In Malaysia, the components of Computational Thinking have been integrated into the content of the New Primary School Standard Curriculum (KSSR) to be taught across all subjects in primary schools in stages starting from primary one to primary six. The aim of this study is to identify the level of Computational Thinking among PISMP final semester students and its relationship to their academic achievement, before they are posted to primary schools throughout the country. The design of the study is a quantitative type of survey. An online instrument has been used to collect the data. It comprises of 36 objective questions which were adapted from three sets of past year International competitiveness competition test on the www.bebras.uk site, organised by the University of Oxford. It consists of six constructs (Decomposition, Pattern Recognition, Abstraction, Algorithm, Logical Reasoning and Assessment) and each construct contains three different levels of difficulty questions. A total of 100 female students and 22 male students from four institutes of Teacher Education in Sarawak participated in this study. The data obtained were analyzed descriptively and inferred by using SPSS15 software. The findings shown that the level of PISMP students' Computational Thinking skills as a whole is at moderate level only (mean = 20.08). While, the results of the Pearson Correlation Statistic have shown that the relationship between the overall level of Computational Thinking and the academic achievement is at a weak level (correlation coefficient = 0.099) at a significant level of 0.05. The findings suggest that the Malaysian Teachers Education Institute (IPGM) should design a special Computational Thinking course to be taught in IPG in future so that the IPG students will be more confident and competent in teaching computational thinking components across the new KSSR curriculum. &nbsp

Use of liquid chromatographic methods for gelatin differentiation in halal verification

A wide diversity of gelatin sources that supported by the largest scale of porcine gelatin production in a global market has raised doubts among Muslim consumers towards gelatin-based ingredients products. The skepticism has been addressed through the implementation of food labelling regulations that require manufacturers to state the source of gelatin on the packaging. Since the application of halal certification is voluntary and not compulsory for industry players, hence it gives significant drawbacks. Without strictly monitoring and enforcement, the probability of contamination with non-halal materials during the production process and lacking of halal integrity particularly in the supply chain of raw materials may increase the number of masbooh and non-compliance products according to the Islamic law. Therefore, a trust on the halal products must be strengthened with the scientific evidence. This paper attempts to critically review on liquid chomatographic methods in determining the species origin of gelatin. It covers series of technological changes from a simple of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to the system that coupled with mass spectrometry. A large similarity in amino acids profile and polypeptide sequences of the mammalian gelatin will be the main challenge in developing the analytical methods. Matrix interference in the gelatin-based products, adulteration and fraud in the mixed ingredients are an inevitable, hence it need to be tackled and solved. These analytical methods are expected to be used as tools to provide scientific evidences for halal verification on the gelatin-based products