The internet milieu: individualization within a globalised community

Communication technologies have become deeply embedded in our lives, mediating the ways in which information is presented. Due to the global nature of this channel of communication, the world has shrunk and members of the internet may share similar cultural norms of thinking and behaving. Yet, paradoxically, the Internet is personal in that each individual has an interactive opportunity in choosing the options that can expand the breadth and depth of the information they are reading, who they interact with, and the means to achieve that interaction. These options can be expressed through a variety of media techniques. This paper is based on a study of selected websites hosted in English. It looks at language use in the Internet and illustrates the paradoxes between global and individual mediations of meanin

Finite element modeling of hybrid-fiber ECC targets subjected to impact and blast

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Enhancing employability via ‘Thirdspace’ pedagogy and ethics

Although the diversity of Malaysian pluralistic sociocultural society may present itself as a challenge in the maintenance of ethnic relations, it can perhaps be transformed, nevertheless, into a critical resource for graduate employability. Formal qualifications aside, Malaysian local graduates should be asking themselves whether they have the civic capacity and universal prerequisites as ‘glocalised’ employees of the future. In this paper, we will attempt to situate the discourse of employability within an ethical-pedagogical dimension of globalisation through social semiotics. It is suggested that insight into the ways of the globalised world may be provided through a pedagogic dimension known as ‘the Thirdspace’ (Bhabha, 1994), comprising a hybridized and cutting-edge space of ‘in-betweenness’ where diverse cultures meet and engage each other. This study takes off from a research on the perceived cultural and language competencies of undergraduates undertaken by a Malaysian university. Based on the findings of this research on the benchmarks for graduate competencies for future employability painted, a profile that went beyond the communicative and linguistic capabilities into elements such as attitudes, mindset and cultural awareness. With this in mind, this paper proposed that university curriculum utilises a Thirdspace pedagogy to expose and enhance cross-cultural literacies of Malaysian university undergraduates through socioculturally resonant Malaysian cinema

Youth in the making: the skin-care promise

This study focuses on the marketing strategies used to persuade or attract buyers in beauty advertisements. The ideal in beauty is seen in having healthy youthful complexions. Hence it has become a commercial commodity globally. This study sets out to explore and identify activities which are geared towards making oneself beautiful. The activities involved in making one attractive is cultural to the concept of beauty, and this is framed in the advertisements of beauty products. In this study a purposive sampling is used to analyse how marketing strategies framed the concept of beauty in the selected skin care products. Three categories of beauty products are selected and analyzed at the macro-micro levels. Lewis’ AIDA model (1898) which spelled out the strategies for marketing is used together with Roderiguez and Dimitrova’s framework for media framing (2011) to analyse how skin-care products are strategized in cosmetic advertisements. The findings indicated that the ideological views of beauty are strategically framed with the promise of looking young

From compliance to adherence and concordance, what quantitative and qualitative studies have synthesized?

Poor adherence has long been identified as the major health challenge in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases. The purpose of the present study is to provide a critical review on the revolution of the “compliance” concepts from compliance to adherence and concordance to both pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies. Hence, the present study attempts to provide an update of the possible factors related to adherence by incorporating findings from both qualitative and quantitative studies with respect to various chronic conditions regardless of their causes. A comprehensive literature search was performed using online databases from Library of University Putra Malaysia, and Pub Med based on the keywords. From the present studies, the findings showed that both quantitative and qualitative studies cannot be neglected in assessing adherence and its related problems. One of major findings from the present review is that “compliance” was no more suitable for current treatments and it is important to defined concepts of the terms used (adherence or concordance) correctly and clearly. The problems of definition or concepts of the terms used further affects the measurements and the results of the studies. It should be noted that the measurements and findings of the studies reviewed reflected that researchers placed great value on medication adherence, but have little attention to the non-pharmacological aspect of adherence. Since medications is not the only way of treatments for many chronic diseases and many patients resisted to take medications due to the strong negative image of medications, non-pharmacological treatments like lifestyle modifications seems to be more natural way of treatments. This may be one of the vital factor of why little progress of patients’ adherence to treatments throughout these three decades. There were three general factors related to adherence to treatments, namely socio-economic factor, treatments-related factor and disease-related factor. The findings showed that both qualitative and quantitative studies found consistent results for most of the factors, except the experience of diseases symptoms. Factors identified in the qualitative studies provides a better understanding on patients’ adherence to treatments regardless of illnesses, but more quantitative studies with a representative sample and valid instruments are in need to clarify these factors. Both study designs contribute important values to the adherence studies. Hence, it is suggested that future studies should not only consider qualitative study but also quantitative studies

Drying Characteristics and Product Quality of Lemon Slices Dried with Hot Air Circulation Oven and Hybrid Heatpump Dryers

In this research, drying characteristics and product quality of Coulomb-force-assisted heatpump and oven dried lemon slices were studied. Lemon slices with 3 mm thickness each, were dried using oven and Coulomb-force-assisted-heatpump dryer with and without auxiliary heater at different drying conditions. It was found that the drying rate of the lemon slices dried by all drying methods showed only falling rate states, which indicates the drying kinetics were controlled by internal moisture diffusion. Oven drying of lemon slices at 60°C showed the highest drying rate among all, followed by oven dried slices at 50°C, Coulomb-force-heater-assisted-heatpump (CF-HT-HP) dried slices at 31°C, Coulomb-force-assisted-heatpump (CF-HP) dried slices at 22°C, oven dried slices at 40°C and heatpump dried slices at 22°C. The average effective moisture diffusivity value for the slices dried with these drying methods was found in the range of 16.2 to 63.8´10-4 mm2min-1. In terms of quality assessment, CF-HP dried lemon slices retained the highest amount of Vitamin C as compared to the lemon slices dried by other drying methods. However, it retained relatively lower amount of total phenolic content (TPC) as compared to oven dried products. Among of all, CF-HP drying method produced dried lemon slices with the highest Vitamin C (6.74 mg AA / g dry weight) whereas oven dried lemon slices at 50°C preserved most of the TPC in the dried slices, which recorded as 13.76 mg GA / g dry weight

Factors affecting office rent in Kuala Lumpur (KL)

The oversupply of office space in the Golden Triangle Kuala Lumpur (GTKL) and slow on-going demand has resulted in pressure on rental performance. Studies have shown that there are several strategies to improve rent performance. The purpose of this paper is to obtain a deeper understanding of these strategies and their applicability in the context of GTKL. Questionnaires were distributed to 42 office buildings in the GTKL. A total of 212 tenants completed the questionnaire and secondary data on building certifications and the building average rents were extracted from reliable property website sources. The results suggest that office building rental performance can be improved if the building management charges lower rent to longer-stay tenants, attracts more foreign-owned or bigger-sized firm and gets Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) or Green certifications. The implications for managers and theories in this regard are then discussed

Assessing technical and functional features of office buildings and their effects on satisfaction and loyalty

This study assesses the service performance of commercial office buildings in the Golden Triangle Kuala Lumpur (GTKL) and understands how they influence tenant satisfaction and loyalty. Literature suggests that the commercial office building leasing context provides more service components compared to goods, hence, the service performance (SERVPERF) framework was used in this study. Data was collected from 250 tenants of 48 buildings using questionnaires. The Structural Equation Model (SEM) technique was used to test the hypothesis and three significant relationships were found. The result indicated that Building Features, Services and Management performance (BFSM), agglomeration performance and Responsive Customer Orientation (RCO) significantly influenced tenant satisfaction, and subsequently resulted in loyalty. The implications for managers and the theories in this regard are then discussed

A Color Based Touchless Finger Mouse

People work with computers almost anytime, everywhere  in the current trend. However, continuously controlling a computer with mouse for a long time might cause much strains to people’s wrist. This work proposes a touchless finger mouse using webcam. A marker with different colours representing different actions is used. The webcam will capture the information on the marker and trigger the associated actions. This prototype is proven to be able to perform most of the actions a normal mouser can perform

Are doctors assessing patients with hypertension appropriately at their initial presentation?

Background: The aim of this study was to determine the extent to which primary care doctors assessed patients newly diagnosed with hypertension for the risk factors of cardiovascular disease (CVD) during the patients’ first clinic visit for hypertension. The study also aimed to examine the trend of assessment for CVD risk factors over a 15-year period. Methods: This retrospective study was conducted between January and May 2012. Data was extracted from the paper-based medical records of patients with hypertension using a 1:4 systematic random sampling method. Data collected included CVD risk factors and a history of target organ damage (TOD), which were identified during the patient’s first visit to the primary care doctor for hypertension, as well as the results of the physical examinations and investigations performed during the same visit. Result: A total of 1,060 medical records were reviewed. We found that assessment of CVD risk factors during the first clinic visit for hypertension was poor (5.4%–40.8%). Assessments for a history of TOD were found in only 5.8%–11.8% of the records, and documented physical examinations and investigations for the assessment of TOD and secondary hypertension ranged from 0.1%–63.3%. Over time, there was a decreasing trend in the percentage of documented physical examinations performed, but an increasing trend in the percentage of investigations ordered Conclusion: There was poor assessment of the patients’ CVD risk factors, secondary causes of hypertension and TOD at their first clinic visit for hypertension. The trends observed in the assessment suggest an over-reliance on investigations over clinical examinations