The Dream of Return in Ghassan Kanafani’s Returning to Haifa

Home is the place where we are supposed to feel the most secure, comfortable and safe. However, such are the vagaries of human existence; that it is this sanctuary which comes under threat from various forces. Gassan Kanafani, in his fiction, has repeatedly highlighted this problem as it was (and continues to be) faced by several Palestinians in the face of Israeli extremist atrocities. Even while highlighting the problem, Kanafani staunchly advocates the need to hold on to one’s home, even in the face of extreme adversity. Returning to Haifa, on which this paper specifically focuses, is a powerful case in point. This paper attempts to analyse how through the trials of one displaced family, Kanafani has tried to show the need to fight for one’s homeland; because once it is given up, even if we do return later to try to pick up the threads, the narrative often changes beyond our control by then

Regression between headmaster leadership, task load and job satisfaction of special education integration program teacher

Managing school is a daunting task for a headmaster. This responsibility is exacerbated when it involves the Special Education Integration Program (SEIP). This situation requires appropriate and effective leadership in addressing some of the issues that are currently taking place at SEIP such as task load and job satisfaction. This study aimed to identify the influence of headmaster leadership on task load and teacher job satisfaction at SEIP. This quantitative study was conducted by distributing 400 sets of randomized questionnaires to SEIP teachers across Malaysia through google form. The data obtained were then analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and AMOS software. The results show that there is a significant positive effect on the leadership of the headmaster and the task load of the teacher. Likewise, the construct of task load and teacher job satisfaction has a significant positive effect. However, for the construct of headmaster leadership and teacher job satisfaction, there was no significant positive relationship. This finding is very important as a reference to the school administration re-evaluating their leadership so as not to burden SEIP teachers and to give them job satisfaction. In addition, the findings of this study can also serve as a guide for SEIP teachers to increase awareness of the importance of managing their tasks. This study also focused on education leadership in general and more specifically on special education leadership

Organizational commitment of Vocational College Teachers in Malaysia

This study aimed to validate factors related to organizational commitment among teachers in vocational colleges in Malaysia. As we know, the commitment given to the organization will make the organization manageable. However, there are issues regarding the commitment given by the teachers in vocational colleges, which has led to poor performance of college organizations. Some studies have found that factors such as narrative commitment, affective commitment and ongoing commitment cause the overall commitment to the organization to be disrupted. In this study, a fully quantitative approach is used to determine factors in the organization commitment of vocational college teachers. The questionnaire was administered to 264 vocational college teachers in three states in Malaysia namely Negeri Sembilan, Melaka and Johor. The data obtained were then analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) using AMOS 21 application. Confirmatory Factor Analysis was performed to obtain factor loading for each element obtained namely narrative commitment, affective commitment and continuous commitment. The analysis results show that the factors reflect the appropriate fit and meet all the criteria for validation. Therefore, the findings of this study can further confirm previous findings on this issue

Development energy monitoring system ising Internet of Things (IoT)

IoT is a term that symbolizes the relationship between objects or equipment using the internet. This study aims to develop an energy consumption monitoring system using the Internet of Things (IoT). The system development process in this study is an adaptation of the Waterfall model which contains five phases namely requirement, design, implementation, verification and maintenance phase. The findings of this study show that there are several problems that have been identified that are difficult to know the amount of energy used by a load, no facilities to monitor energy consumption remotely, data collected by kwj meters are not specific or detailed and methods of measuring electricity consumption are complicated and takes a long time. In conclusion, the energy consumption monitoring system using this IoT has successfully achieved the objectives set by the researchers. While the estimated cost for this system is also Rm200 which is an affordable price per user. With this system, researchers want to implement efficient energy usage while at the same time facilitating the use of consumers who want to do data analysis on energy usage. In addition, the researcher also hopes that future research can solve the problem and facilitate the user's business is doing something based on the suggestions and comments provided

Multimodal and multidimensional geodata interaction and visualization

This PhD proposes the development of a Science Data Visualization System, SdVS, that analyzes and presents different kinds of visualizing and interacting techniques with Geo-data, in order to deal with knowledge about Geo-data using GoogleEarth. After that, we apply the archaeological data as a case study, and, as a result, we develop the Archaeological Visualization System, ArVS, using new visualization paradigms and Human-Computer-Interaction techniques based on SdVS. Furthermore, SdVS provides guidelines for developing any other visualization and interacting applications in the future, and how the users can use SdVS system to enhance the understanding and dissemination of knowledge

A Study of “Shared Teaching” and “Video Conferencing in Classrooms” as Techniques for Improving English Literature Learning Experience

Globalisation and the emergence of internet in all fields of human affairs have brought unprecedented changes in higher academics. Physical and political boundaries are now hardly any barrier in restricting access to knowledge or information. Learning is a social process, and it typically tries to enhance an individual’s knowledge and understanding through solo activities, as well as group and peer interaction. Thus, one of the key learning skills is that of communication. Through collaboration, learning becomes more effective. And for such collaborative learning, effective communication tools and channels are necessary pre-requisites. And in today’s world, the exponential importance of English as the most effective means of communication between people of different cultures and countries, cannot be denied. Internationalism in higher education has become the latest concern for universities across the world. And for the teaching and learning of English (both the language skill and its literature), this internationalism can only be an added advantage. Tools of ICT are often considered relevant only for facilitating the teaching and learning of science subjects. Technology is an important aspect of modern life. Science and technology contribute to human well-being in perceptible ways and thus our society likes investing in science and technology because they provide us with provisions for life. Literature provides us with visions, ideas and understanding that we can apply to our lives. However, literature does not bring about any quantitative change. Its impact is intangible and incalculable in terms of quantity. Humanities or literary discourse brings out qualitative changes that remain countless. A good poem or novel may not be able to provide material comforts, but they can inspire, motivate, heal and change the readers. Revolutions have been brought about because of the power of literature. Thus, the importance of studying literature will always be relevant for human beings. What needs to be kept in mind today, however, is that science and technology and humanities are complementary and scientific innovations like video conferencing and shared teaching, when used in Literature classrooms, only serve to increase the understanding of the prescribed texts for the students. This paper proposes to study two such innovative techniques of teaching English literature in Palestinian HEIs—shared teaching (where two teachers, one local and one preferably English share classes within the classroom) and video conference classes (where students can listen to teachers in distant locations, even overseas; and have exposure to other cultures and modes of teaching). The aim of this study is to see how these innovations improve the learning experience of Palestinian students opting to study English Literature in their B.A. courses. The analytical method will mostly be applied for completing this study

Meta analysis for special education leadership in Malaysia

The leadership of the headmaster as the school's chief administrator is crucial in determining the school's direction of success. Practiced leadership also reflects school culture and teachers' performance. This will help to ensure the success of the students. School leadership is synonymous with a variety of styles such as autocratic, democratic, Laissez Faire, transformational, distributive, instructional and many other styles of leadership. All of these leadership styles also occur in the community of schools with special education programs and special needs students. This meta-analysis was conducted to explore previous studies on special education leadership in Malaysia from 2011 to 2020. Although there are many studies on special education leadership abroad, there are still few studies in Malaysia. Based on the search, there are only seven studies published on special education leadership in Malaysia. The analysis conducted for these seven studies found that there are certain elements in explaining special education leadership in Malaysia. These studies also found that special education teachers in primary and secondary schools involved. In addition, this study also focused on the main findings of each study conducted. This study also examines the methodology of the study used. The findings of this study are intended to help future researchers conduct research on special education leadership in Malaysia. In addition, this analysis also suggests some ideas for further research

Emotional Intelligence and Organizational Commitment among Polytechnic Lecturers: A Case Study On Malaysia Northern Zone

Knowing one’s feeling and emotion, controlled the emotion and sympathize with others is all about emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence has an impact, role and related to organizational commitment. The purpose of this research is to know the relationship between emotional intelligence and organizational commitment using Goleman (2001) that hypothesized, four of emotional intelligence dimensions as a theoretical framework to understand the meaning of emotional intelligence that comprises of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management.   Particularly, this research is definitely to understand the relationship between emotional intelligence and organizational commitment, so that to better understanding of organizational commitment, Meyer and Allen (1990) has proposed a three component model of organizational commitment that consists of affective, normative and continuance commitment. Each component would have a different way of thinking and implications of job behavior (Meyer and Allen, 1991; Powell and Meyer, 2004). Data collected from Polytechnic in Kedah across the district of Alor Setar and Kulim were used to test these relationships and data were analyzed using the 18.0 version of The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). The relevance of emotional intelligence and organizational commitment is tested among 250 teachers of Polytechnic using questionnaire as an instrument. The results will indicate that whether there is a significant relationship between emotional intelligence as an overall construct and organizational commitment. Keywords: Emotional Intelligence, Organizational Commitmen

Effect of Game-Based Learning in Vehicle Air-Conditioning Course on Cognitive and Affective Skills of Vocational Students

Refrigerant and air conditioning course in vocational college is challenging to students and teachers as indicated by the unsatisfactory student’s examination results. Students come diverse backgrounds with poor basic skills and low motivation which, is difficult to address using the traditional interactive teaching and learning methods as currently practiced by teachers Therefore, game-based learning is suggested as an alternative to increase students’ motivation and achievement. A study was conducted to assess the effect of game-based learning on learning of the cognitive (recall the fact, concept, and procedure) and affective (respond/reaction) skills of vocational students in automotive air-conditioning course.  A quasi-experiment was conducted on 30 students from two vocational colleges who were randomly assigned to the experimental and control group. The experimental group underwent a game-based learning method and tested using pre-test, post-test, and questionnaire. Whereas the control group underwent the existing method and tested using only pre-test and post-test. The teaching and learning module were developed based on the ADDIE model. The module has been analysed for usability and method. The results of this experiment show that the achievement of the experimental group is better than the control group. The students show good responses and reactions towards game-based learning. In conclusion, game-based learning is effective for student’s cognitive and affective skills in this course

Comparison between ant colony and genetic algorithm using traveling salesman problem

The Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP) is a complex problem in combinatorial optimization. The aim of this study is compare the effect of using two distributed algorithm which are ant colony as a Swarm intelligence algorithm and genetic algorithm. In ant colony algorithm each individual ant constructs a part of the solution using an artificial pheromone which reflects its experience accumulated while solving the problem and heuristic information dependent on the problem. The results of comparison show that ant colony is high efficient than genetic algorithm and it requires less computational cost and generally only a few lines of code