Assessing service quality of community-based ecotourism: a case study from Kampung Kuantan Firefly Park

Community-based ecotourism (CBE) could offer business opportunities to local communities living within or adjacent to unique ecological sites. CBE focuses on impact of tourism on the community and takes environmental, social and cultural sustainability into account. To assess the extent that CBE has been practised in Malaysia, Kampung Kuantan Firefly Park (FP), a habitat of the Lampyridae species beetle, was selected as study site to evaluate the services that the park offered and to assess the ability of the service provider, with the participation from local stakeholders, to fulfil tourist requests using the criteria of CBE as guidelines. Data were collected using convenience sampling of international and domestic tourists using questionnaire. All questions had been prior tested for reliability. The method of analysis involved the critical incident technique to identify and assess the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of tourists with regard to service encounters at the park. Five service failure constructs were identified and prioritised, namely, dissatisfaction with the quality of attractions and facilities at the park, tourist expectations before the visit, inadequate knowledge of employees, unacceptable behaviours of employees and other tourists, and inadequate responses to tourist needs. The form of recovery strategies undertaken by the service provider, its employees and participating community for major service quality failures were recorded and their effectiveness assessed

Social network analysis of Kampung Kuantan Fireflies Park, Selangor and the implications upon its governance

Community-based management practices stakeholder inclusivity is claimed to be the panacea in overcoming problems and dilemmas in governing ecotourism. Kampung Kuantan Fireflies Park (KKFP) in Kuala Selangor faced several complaints from tourists which were hypothesised to be associated with governance of the park. Social network analysis was utilised to identify the key stakeholders within the governance network of managing ecotourism and in understanding the interests and roles of these stakeholders. The network metrics used were number of edges, density, geodesic distance, and degree and betweenness centralities. The network metric and map obtained suggested that the local community boatmen had the highest degree and betweenness centralities in the KKFP social network. Inclusivity, particularly in the fireflies observation boat ride and tour services, had occurred but involvement in the management decision-making held by the district office could be improved. Possible explanations are provided for the dichotomy of findings between the informal power held by the local community boatmen and the formal authority held by the district office in the context of the Malaysian culture and custom

Design Simulation of Multiple Differential Transceiver at 2.0 GHz for Third Generation Mobile Communication System

Third generation mobile communication system is widely used nowadays. One of its parameter standard, which is QPSK modulation has been adopted by International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to be used in IMT-2000. However, due to amplitude variations introduced in QPSK, a rather robust and reliable data modulation technique, namely the 7c/4-shift Differential QPSK is proposed. For detection purposes, two types of detectors are evaluated for their performance in AWGN and Rayleigh fading channels. A differential detection technique called multiple differential detection technique which uses maximum-likelihood sequence estimation (MLSE) of the transmitted phases is compared with conventional differential detection which uses symbol-bysymbol detection. By using some of the IMT-2000 standard parameters, the simulation results show that multiple differential detection scheme performs much better than conventional differential detection scheme

Changes of physical and chemical characteristics during microbial composting of rice straw at various pH levels

The physical and chemical parameters were monitored for seven weeks during Trichoderma/Aspergillus inoculated rice straw composting at various pH levels. Three treatments (A, B, and C) were inoculated with lignocellulolytic microbial consortium (Aspergillus niger, F44 and Trichoderma viride, F26) and three were un-inoculated (D, E, and F). pH of the starting materials was amended to 5.75 (A and D), 6.75 (B and E), and 7.75 (C and F) with either acetic acid or sodium hydroxide. Three typical phases of temperature were observed both in inoculated and un-inoculated treatments during composting: mesophilic phase, thermophilic phase, and followed by cooling and maturation phase. The bioconversion were maximum in Trichoderma/Aspergillus inoculated treatments within 14–21 days as indicated by the profiles of electrical conductivity, bulk density, total carbon and nitrogen, and germination index. After day 21, the germination index of Trichoderma/Aspergillus inoculated treatment (B) without any pH amendment was increased to 74.5 indicating the maturity of compost and suitability for field application

RENTAKA: A novel machine learning framework for crypto-ransomware pre-encryption detection

Crypto ransomware is malware that locks its victim’s file for ransom using an encryption algorithm. Its popularity has risen at an alarming rate among the cyber community due to several successful worldwide attacks. The encryption employed had caused irreversible damage to the victim’s digital files, even when the victim chose to pay the ransom. As a result, cybercriminals have found ransomware a lucrative and profitable cyber-extortion approach. The increasing computing power, memory, cryptography, and digital currency advancement have caused ransomware attacks. It spreads through phishing emails, encrypting sensitive data, and causing harm to the designated client. Most research in ransomware detection focuses on detecting during the encryption and post-attack phase. However, the damage done by crypto-ransomware is almost impossible to reverse, and there is a need for an early detection mechanism. For early detection of crypto-ransomware, behavior-based detection techniques are the most effective. This work describes RENTAKA, a framework based on machine learning for the early detection of crypto-ransomware.The features extracted are based on the phases of the ransomware lifecycle. This experiment included five widely used machine learning classifiers: Naïve Bayes, kNN, Support Vector Machines, Random Forest, and J48. This study proposed a pre-encryption detection framework for crypto-ransomware using a machine learning approach. Based on our experiments, support vector machines (SVM) performed with the best accuracy and TPR, 97.05% and 0.995, respectively

A study of geo-polymer as alternative material in automotive brake pad

Todays, there are various of alternative materials that have been studied by many researchers in order to find the appropriate combination of brake pad manufacturing in the automotive industry. Some of the alternative materials that has being used including palm slag, banana peels, nutshell and others. This provide more economical benefit and also environmental preservation by utilizing the waste of natural fiber. In this study, geo-polymer brake pad has been prepare using the waste product which is barren soil. Barren soil is chosen as an alternative brake pad material candidate from natural resources as it consists of deserts, dry salt flats, beaches, sand dunes, exposed rock, strip mines, quaries, and gravel pits. This barren soil are mixed with another candidates such as binder, reinforcement, abrasives and lubricant following the standard formulation of brake pad manufacturing. In this works, three type of samples have been used. The elemental composition for sample 1, 2 and 3 are main content with 10%, 5%, 15% alumina and 10%, 15%, 5% graphite respectively. The physical properties of geo-polymer brake pads studied including hardness test and its morphology structure. Sample has been characterized based on two main parameters which are hardness test and morphology analysis. From the analysis, it was found that a prototype from sample 3 exhibit the highest hardness index compare to sample 1 and 2. Sample 3 hardness also much better compare to the conventional brake pad with 64% of the hardness increment. This finding also support by the morphological analysis, whereby the surface of sample 3 show a compact and flat surface with less cracking and porosity. From both parameter, it can be concluded that sample 3 has a great potential to become a suitable geo-polymer brake pad. Here, the composition of a combination alumina and graphite in all sample play as important role in enhance the hardness parameter for the potential brake pad prototype

Sustaining Competitiveness Through Product Development Activities Within Malaysian Automotive Suppliers

The local automotive suppliers are facing a number of important challenges such asglobalisation, new requirement in market specifications and the competition brought about by theAsean Free Trade Area (AFTA) agreements. In an effort to enhance the competitiveness of themanufacturing sector, the government has implemented the Second Industrial Master Plan, IMP2(1996-2005). The focus of the IMP2 is more on innovation and applications of new technologies, sothat industries can move up the value chain of their activities. Innovative capabilities achieved fromcompanies\u27 new product development activities have been recognized to be crucial for companies tosustain their competitiveness and organisational success. The importance of product development ismost obvious in the context of the discussion on the competitiveness of the Malaysian automotivesuppliers. The study will focus on the small medium enterprises (SMEs) that make up more than 60 %of these automotive suppliers. The study is to determine the extensiveness of the suppliers\u27 productdevelopment activities by examining the involvement of the suppliers in customer\u27s productdevelopment activities. Consequently, the impact of this involvement to the competitiveness of thesuppliers is examined. The results were established based from a survey to parts and componentssuppliers of Proton, the Malaysian car national assembler. The study has shown that the SMEs wereinvolved from the early stages of the product development process that is during the design stage. Theproduct development efforts have shown to contribute towards increasing firms\u27 market share andfirms were also able to gain a better understanding of future product demand. A significant number ofthe suppliers have managed to penetrate the export market. Unfortunately, among the respondents,there is only one system supplier. This indicates that, either the technological capabilities of theSMEs still needed upgrading for the requirement as a system suppliers or it may not be the onlydeciding factor for suppliers to be chosen as system suppliers. It is intended that this paper shouldserve to inform management in particular the suppliers on the present status of the SMEs in seekingto improve their competitiveness from product development effort

Analysis and Identification of Data Heterogeneity on Learning Environment Using Ontology Knowledge

Heterogeneity on learning environment is about different data and applications to support a learning process in education institutions. Distributed and various systems on learning environment is the current issues to produce big and heterogeneity data problem. A lot of relationships are formed between elements on learning environment. The element on learning environment consists of learning data, learning applications, data sources, learning concept, and data heterogeneity aspect on learning environment. These elements are interrelated and produce complex relationship between each other. A complex relationship problem between elements on learning environment makes a process of analysis and identification difficult to be done. Existing method to drawing this heterogeneity problem make confuse and misunderstanding readers. To solved this problem, researcher using ontology knowledge to describe and draw a semantic relationship that represent the complexity of data relationship on learning environment. The result of this analysis is to develop ontology knowledge to solve complexity relationship on learning environment, and also to help reader\u27s better understanding the complex relationship between elements on learning environment

Factors influencing smoking behaviours among male adolescents in Kuantan district

ABSTRACT The aims of this study were to determine the prevalence and factors that influenced smoking behaviours among male adolescents in Kuantan, Pahang. A cross-sectional study was conducted among the form four male students in Kuantan District. Three hundred and twenty three students were randomly selected from eight secondaryn schools. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to all the respondents. Almost half of the sample was smokers (45.8%) and half of them were Malays (53.1%). Students whose parents had lower level of occupation were more likely to smoke (58.8%). Among smokers, 34.5% of them smoked since primary school and a majority (91.7%) smoked 10 or less cigarettes per day. Half of them (53.4%) reported that they bought loose cigarettes and most of them used their school pocket money to purchase the cigarettes (81.7%). From the multivariate analysis, it was found that Non-Science Stream classes (OR=3.92, 95% CI= 2.10, 7.32), peers' smoking(OR=6.07, 95% CI= 2.32, 15.92), and attitude towards smoking (OR= 21.93, 95% CI= 9.71,49.51) were significantly associated with smoking habit. The prevalence of smoking among male adolescents was considerably high'in this population. It is recommended that antismoking activities in school be carried out regularly and should involve an active participation from the adolescents themselves since peers have great influence on smoking habits

Melastoma malabathricum (L.) Smith Ethnomedicinal Uses, Chemical Constituents, and Pharmacological Properties: A Review

Melastoma malabathricum L. (Melastomataceae) is one of the 22 species found in the Southeast Asian region, including Malaysia. Considered as native to tropical and temperate Asia and the Pacific Islands, this commonly found small shrub has gained herbal status in the Malay folklore belief as well as the Indian, Chinese, and Indonesian folk medicines. Ethnopharmacologically, the leaves, shoots, barks, seeds, and roots of M. malabathricum have been used to treat diarrhoea, dysentery, hemorrhoids, cuts and wounds, toothache, and stomachache. Scientific findings also revealed the wide pharmacological actions of various parts of M. malabthricum, such as antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory, wound healing, antidiarrheal, cytotoxic, and antioxidant activities. Various types of phytochemical constituents have also been isolated and identifed from different parts of M. malabathricum. Thus, the aim of the present review is to present comprehensive information on ethnomedicinal uses, phytochemical constituents, and pharmacological activities of M. malabathricum